Cray Valley PM 1-0 CAFC

Cray Valley PM 1-0 CAFC – Report

Carshalton fall to consecutive defeats

Carshalton Athletic fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat away at Cray Valley on a sunny bank holiday Monday.

Freddie Parker’s 47th minute goal was the difference between the two sides as Bryan Ifeanyi dazzled but failed to apply the finishing touch to find the equaliser. To summarise, it was another game where the lads performed well and gave it their all but somehow came away with 0 points.

There were two changes for Carshalton following Saturday’s loss at home to Dartford. Thomas Jackson and Steve Gody returned to the starting eleven, while Tom Stagg and Mason Saunders-Henry made way, the latter seemingly out with injury. The make-up of the team suggested that Tommy Bradford would be deployed down the centre of the front three with Gody occupying the opposite flank to Ifeanyi. Jackson would then reinforce the midfield, injecting some much-needed energy into the middle of the park and it was good to see defender Charlie Kennet back in the matchday squad for the Robins, being listed on the bench.

Cray Valley, meanwhile, followed suit by making the same number of changes, Hassan Ibrahiym returned from suspension against Folkestone at the weekend and began proceedings, with Clement Asiedu in for Ali Tumkaya in defence.

The opening ten minutes of the match belonged to the hosts as Carshalton worked out their opponents. It was apparent in the early stages that Steve McKimm’s side placed a heavy emphasis on knocking the ball long to the big physical presence of forward Parker, who would flick it on and then rely on his teammates to battle for the second ball.

A series of Valley half chances welcomed in the bank holiday fixture, Ibrahiym’s cross from the left flank was comfortably gathered by Mackenzie Foley and Andre Coker’s deep cross to the back post was met but steered the wrong side of the near post.
Parker, who was beginning to cause a few problems, did well to hold it up and play through Ademiluyi to attack left, driving into the box he went to ground claiming to have been clipped by Sankho on the way, but the appeals were waved away.

Approaching the first third of the half, the Robins were gradually growing into the game largely thanks to getting wingers Ifeanyi and Gody more involved. A nice move down the left produced an Ifeanyi cross to Gody languishing on the opposite side, he drove at pace on the outside and won a free kick. The resulting set piece was delivered into a dangerous area, but nobody in red was there to turn it in.

The first real chance for the Reds came following a lovely, chipped ball in behind from Saraiva to Sankho who made an inverted run, let the ball bounce, had the awareness to spot the onrushing goalkeeper and tried to lift it over him, but had to settle for watching it go agonisingly wide.

After that, full-back Asiedu momentarily enjoyed himself, trying to spur the home side on to take the lead. The former Crystal Palace youth player had two crosses scrambled away on the 20-minute mark before dragging a strike wide.

Mid-way through, Ifeanyi fired a pass into the feet of Saraiva in the channel, who teed up Bradford to come onto it and shoot from range, however, it rolled into the keeper’s grasp. Moments later, Ifeanyi skipped past Asiedu to drive into the centre at pace and lash an effort goalwards, but he failed to generate any power, and the diving keeper was not troubled.

Entering the final third, Sankho, overloading the midfield, controlled in the pocket on the edge of the penalty area and took it round his man to fashion it onto his stronger left foot, yet it was a tight angle, and the youngster sliced it towards the travelling support behind the goal. A few minutes later, Gody cut inside off the right and shot a tame effort at the Valley goal.

With ten minutes left until the break, Matthew Vigor, who spent five months on loan at the Robins, drove a half volley into the outstretched arm of Fikayo Atewologun and the referee without hesitation awarded the free kick in a dangerous position just outside the box. Parker, however, squandered the opportunity, proving unable to beat the wall and it trickled out for a throw.

It was Carshalton’s turn to catch the Millers on the counter-attack, captain Bradford worked the ball left to right, and Vose backheeled to set up Gody, who chose to go inside and strike, but again the effort was tame.

On the stroke of half time, Ibrahiym burst into life all of a sudden, turning Ifeanyi to carry the ball up the pitch and play a well cushioned through ball in behind, before the danger was averted by Atewologun, who used his body well to show it out of play for a goal kick.

The last action of the first 45 saw Bradford controversially brought down by Williams when it appeared he was clean through, and the Valley defender was brandished a yellow card.

Heading into the break, the Robins were on the ascendancy despite the Millers being the better team in the opening stages.

Carshalton started the second half sluggish perhaps a product of their frustrations carried over from the first and it did not take long for Valley to take advantage. Asiedu drove into the box and used his strength to brush off the defender, pulling it back to Parker for a simple first-time finish from close range, pegging back the visitors for his fourth goal of the campaign.

The Reds were moving the ball nicely but failing to pose any threat to the home side’s goal.

In the 54th minute, Valley broke at speed, and managed to work it right to left, stretching the Carshalton backline, Ibrahiym drifted inside and searched for the far corner, however, Foley was a match and pushed it away for a corner.

Not long after, Coker was responsible for miss of the afternoon. Ibrahiym lashed a low-driven cross, across the face of goal and somehow the versatile attacker could not stab it home. How did he miss?

With the Reds crying out for an avenue back into the match, Peter Adeniyi made three very smart substitutions to push for the leveller. Tommy Stagg and Darnell Goather-Braithwaite came on to help Ifeanyi in the forward areas, Vose and Bradford departed proceedings, while Paris Hamilton-Downes filled in at left-back and Sankho moved into the middle of the park.

It took a little bit of time for the changes to bear fruit and in the intervening period, there were more penalty appeals when Parker went to ground. Also, Coker, twisting and turning in the penalty area, delayed his pass just long enough to enable Ibrahiym the time and space to his left to take it down and shoot wide.

75 minutes in and the Robins fashioned their best chance of the match. Ifeanyi burst into the penalty area breaking the lines via the right channel, one on one, he cut it inside to Stagg, whose effort rattled the bar and bounced out before Sankho snatched at the rebound and fired it well over the bar. This came shortly after Goather-Braithwaite’s cross was controlled and struck on the swivel by Ifeanyi in a similar position.
Ifeanyi, who had been the brightest spark for Adeniyi’s side, was pushing to draw the Robins level single-handedly and brilliantly nutmegged the defender to manufacture a shooting chance, but his attempt was parried.

In the dying embers of the game, Valley withstood a barrage of shots and crosses from the Robins, nullifying wave after wave of attack.

There was a late scare for the Reds when Lyle Della-Verde was clear away, but Goather-Braithwaite tracked back to disrupt the attacker’s momentum, forcing Della-Verde to get the ball caught in his feet.

Up the other end of the pitch, the ball fell to Ifeanyi outside the box, and he sent a dipping effort goalbound; however, it was caught with ease by the keeper.

Unfortunately, the magnitude of overturning the one-goal deficit at the Artic Stadium proved too great for the visitors and they succumbed to defeat. Valley had successfully frustrated Adeniyi’s side, who despite their best efforts could not nestle the ball in the net.

Football can be cruel. Alright, it was another game where Carshalton lacked a cutting edge in front of goal, some would say toothless to a degree. The positive thing is the team creates a lot of chances but cannot finish them.

The result marked a second consecutive defeat for the Robins as they drop to ninth in the table on seven points and level with four teams. A welcomed break for cup action ensues on Saturday when Carshalton take on Haywards Heath at Colston on Saturday in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Carshalton: Foley Read Hamstead Atewologun Sankoh Vose Camacho-Saraiva Bradford (C) Jackson Gody Ifeanyi; SUBS: Hamilton-Downes Kennett Goather-Braithwaite Kabujko Somo Stagg

Cray Valley: Ovenden Williams Chambers Oshilaja Parker Ademiluyi Coker Vigor Waldren Ibrahiym Asiedu; SUBS: Black Coombes Anau Barrington Della-Verde
Goal: Freddie Parker