CAFC Women vs Croydon FC – Preview
Carshalton Athletic Women take on Croydon FC in the Surrey Premier Division at Colston Avenue on Sunday afternoon.
Robins Review
Aaron Lamont’s side have enjoyed a positive start to their historic opening season in women’s football, securing a 5-0 victory in their Surrey Premier Division curtain raiser with Beecholme Belles before hosting an international visit from Guernsey FC in the Isthmian Cup, which the robins edged 3-1 on penalties after there was nothing to separate the two sides in normal time. Carshalton will enter Sunday with hopes of registering a win to push league toppers Farnham Town.
Croydon Women’s Football Club
Croydon Women’s Football Club have had a tough start to the 2024-25 Surrey Premier Division campaign, winless in three. It was an opening day to forget for the Trams after Farnham Town ran out 6-0 winners at the Croydon Sports Arena. The following week, the ladies travelled to Leatherhead and were beaten by a more competitive scoreline of 4-2. Currently, our South London neighbours sit rock bottom of the division with a -8-goal difference.
The Trams however boast one of the richest histories in the Women’s game and they were extremely influential in its growth. Initially founded in 1991 as Bromley Borough, it soon became Croydon Women’s FC three years later in 1994. The Trams would go on to win the league and Women’s FA Cup ‘double’ in 1996, the league again, in an undefeated season, in 1999 and another ‘double’ in 2000. The club established itself as one of the top teams in England. During that decade, many Croydon and England legends rose from these successful years, this included former Three Lions and Brighton Manager Hope Powell. Powell went on to play for England in their first World Cup appearance in 1995. Not only that, but she also became the youngest-ever coach of any English national football team, as well as the first woman, and the first person of colour, to do so – a legend.Powell was one of six Croydon players who represented England at the 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup, with Debbie Bampton, Paulie Cope, and Brenda Sempare, to name a few – all now members of The English Hall of Fame.
There were some pretty notable scorelines in the 1990’s, Croydon ran out 5-0 winners against Millwall Lionesses, won a huge 8-0 versus Brentford City with the brilliant Powell scoring a hattrick, and they sealed a comfortable 4-0 victory over Aston Villa in 1999. The Trams also lifted the FA Cup in 2000, the second time they had claimed the cup. However, that same year as the second ‘double’, 2000, Croydon would disband with most of the players departing and going on to form Charlton Athletic Women’s Football Club, a bitter blow. It was shrouded in controversy due to the nature of the Premier League side’s recent forceful takeover. Charlton would give us the likes of Casey Stoney, Katie Chapman, Eniola Aluko and managerial maestro Matt Beard, all greats of the women’s game, who have Croydon to thank for laying the foundations. A couple of years ago, Croydon FC were broken into and several trophies and plaques were stolen, every single one of them belonged to the Women. It would prompt the return of one of the best teams to ever grace women’s football.
Committee member Jason Casey told The Grassroots Post about its reformation:
“At Croydon FC I was helping out where I could at the club, running the shop, things like that. We were a very small, close-knit team at Croydon FC, made up of maybe ten volunteers, and over the years we’d experienced quite a few break-ins. It was during a team meeting following a major break-in, where quite a lot was stolen, that we realised how many trophies we had from the women’s team twenty years beforehand. We spoke about maybe putting all the England shirts we had from players like Hope Powell on the wall, creating some sort of celebration of it all, but then we started talking about putting together a women’s team. “At the time, my daughter Lucy was also at Crystal Palace, and she’d been talking to me about Palace not having an Under 18s girls’ team and asking which team she could join. I told her I’d speak with the club secretary Paul (Fleming) to see what we could do.” A year before COVID struck, Croydon Women FC made a comeback. They started at Under 18s level in the Surrey County Women and Girls League but were successful in their application to play in the Greater London Women and Girls Football League (GLWFL) as an open-age team last year. They finished 8th in their first season before topping the table in 21/22 by 10 points and gaining promotion quicker than anticipated. Croydon Women’s FC now apply their trade in the South East Counties Women’s Football League on a weekly basis. They enjoyed an exciting FA Cup run in 2023, the Dev’s first in 23 years. 2023-24 was another successful campaign, finishing third place in the Surrey Premier Division.
Likely line-ups
Carshalton Athletic
Solley, Nebbitt, Dady, Allen, Edwards, McCarthy, Measures, Throp, Eade, Williams, Gray
Croydon FC
Blyth, Reid, Winfield, Mountford, Dawson, Nadison-Singh, Dragic, Brenchley, De Souza, Kalal, Perkins
Team News
Carshalton Athletic
Ella Bond and India Cox remain unavailable for the foreseeable future, and it is expected that Sarah Chapman will return following a minor injury.
Croydon FC
Sunday’s opponents are expected to have a fully fit squad at their disposal.
Pre-Match Analysis
Croydon FC have leaked 10 goals so far this season, giving them a goal difference of -8 just two games into the 2024-25 campaign. It could have made even worse reading if they had not cancelled out two at Leatherhead. The Trams are the most defensively vulnerable side in the league and given the robins free scoring tendencies, it seems a match made in heaven.
Key Player
Summer arrival Avangeline Mountford has featured heavily in the opening chunk of games for Croydon and was named Player of the Match against Leatherhead.
The Gaffer
A diminutive midfielder who started his football career at Millwall up until the age of 14. Gonnella competed in the English Schools Athletic Association national cross-country championship in 2003 and went on to represent London in multiple races throughout the UK. Antonio joined Fisher and made his Conference Blue Square South First Team debut at the age of 17 against Cambridge City in a 0-0 draw in 2006/07. He went on to make 13 appearances before the entire squad was released by the new manager in 2007. After briefly returning to Italy, his father’s place of birth, to compete in numerous tournaments and train with Avellino Calcio in Serie B, he decided to come back to England. The youngster then joined Cambridge before immediately jumping ship to Hastings United due to the location and interest in game time at Ryman Premier Level.
He spent two years with Hastings, making close to 50 appearances. In July 2009, he trained at Carshalton but decided to join Maidstone. However, his previous club showed interest in September and he rejoined. He took his tally to 68 outings and 14 goals.
Brief spells at Dulwich and Margate ensued, then he rejoined Maidstone to see out the remainder of the 2009/10 season. Injuries troubles limited him to just eight appearances in 10/11, suffering ankle ligament damage playing against the Robins.
The next three years of his career were made up of small cameos and spells on the sidelines. Moves to Folkestone, Kingstonian, Folkestone again, Canvey Island, Bognor Regis, and Sittingbourne took place until an ACL knee injury would eventually force him even further down the football pyramid to Kent Football United. Gonella joined the Davs as head coach from the AFC Whyteleafe (Step Five) management team.
Match Details
Date: Sunday 29 August, 2024
Venue: Colston Avenue.
Kickoff: 2:00pm
Admission: Free
