Carshalton Atheltic snatched another draw from the jaws of victory on Saturday as our visitors hit an added time equaliser, writes James Barrett
And we got off to a flying start as a long Luke Colquhoun free kick bounced over the challenging Moses Ashikodi and defender Ryan Smith, but Tommy Bradford read the situation to get in on goal. He was then yanked down by Nathan Ayling, who escaped even a booking depsite denying a clear goal scoring opportunity, and so had to beat keeper James Wastell from the spot instead, which he duly did.
But, just three minutes later, the referee awarded South Park a very soft penalty after he ajudged the coming together of Adam Thompson and Kofi Quartey to be inisde our area. Kieran Lavery stepped up but Colquhoun saved the firm drive with his feet before we cleared the loose ball away from danger.
Carshalton Athletic v South Park - 16 January 2016 135 photos
Match photos
That was, apart from a pot shot by Asa Rixon-Nicholls in added time which Colquhoun comfortably saved, as good as it got for our visitors but we could not turn our dominance into further goals.
Both Jordan Higgs and Thompson had clear sights of the visitors' goal before the half-hour mark but each player snatched their shots over the crossbar.
Bobby Price then worked two good crossing opportunities within two minutes but the first rolled just behind the runs of Ashikodi and Bradford, while the former just couldn't connect with a second dinked effort towards the near post.
Our visitors' frustrations were manifest by a few late challenges yet, although the referee only dished out one yellow card, we didn't allow it to put us off our passing game, but frustratingly we couldn't further extend our lead.
HALF-TIME: 1 - 0
Jake Downs had to come on for the injured Paris Hamilton-Downes for the next 45 minutes and he watched Colquhoun bravely block at the feet of Quartey as the midfielder broke through on a through ball on 48 minutes.
The action continued apace as we broke and Mickel Miller got clear on the left but the winger saw his low ball flash all the way across the visitors' six yard box, only needing a touch from the incoming Ashikodi who was just too slow to meet it.
South Park were a stronger force to reckon with compared to their first-half performance but our backline held firm, while Bradford met a Youssef Bamba cross on the hour mark but his header dropped just wide of the far post.
The visitors' strongarm tactics also continued and Price was next to suffer a late tackle which forced him off, Matt Males slotting in at right back for the last 28 minutes. Ashikodi was then grappled by two South Park defenders off the ball but the referee deemed a simple 'word' sufficed as punishment.
Thompson did well to stop Lavery ghosting onto a whipped Jack MacLeod cross on 71 minutes, then Ashikodi ran onto a dinked Lee Hall through ball a couple of minutes later. A recovering defender poked the ball back to Wastell but our man harried him into losing possession, but the angle for Ashikodi's turn and lofted shot was terrible and the ball flew off target.
The referee deemed a challenge by Hall in our box as a foul on 82 minutes but awarded an indirect free kick. The ball was laid back to Ayling but Colquhoun sprung and tipped the fierce effort from 18 yards over his crossbar.
After that incident, it seemed we might hold on and take victory but there was late drama as the game ticked over into added time. A deep cross by Penfold was met by Dean Lovegrove but he shanked his volley across goal. It fell to Lavery who took a touch before rifling home through a host of bodies from 12 yards.
Next up: We travel away to Ramsgate on Saturday 23rd January before Chatham Town come to us on Saturday 30th January.
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