It took a penalty to separate Carshalton Athletic and Horsham on a blustery afternoon at Colston Avenue, writes James Barrett.
The Robins' unbeaten home run ended on seven as we failed to convert our dominate display into goals against a hard-working opponent.
Team news: Matt Males came in at the back as boss Rob Scantlebury was missing key defensive personnel. Mickel Miller and Jerome Walker were given starts down the flanks as Ricardo Panton dropped to the bench and Sean O’Toole missed out through injury. Brendan Murphy-McVey, after his long lay-off, returned on the bench as did Ryan Young and goalkeeper Matt Willard.
We set about the visiting defence from the off and both Walker and Jordan Clarke showed some nice flashes of skill going forward, while Tommy Bradford scuffed a shot into the arms of Gareth Williams on six minutes.
Horsham were forced into an early change just a minute later as right back Jack Page had to go off with an injury, but they created their first opening on the quarter hour as a right wing cross by Tony Nwachukwu whistled past Jack Eden’s far post.
Our keeper comfortably handled a Bailo Camara shot from distance on 17 minutes before Walker received a short corner and deceived his marker by turning and facing the box, but his low cross was cleared from inside the six yard box.
The visitors’ best spell in the first-half came on 25 minutes as Eden came out to deflect a Camara effort away at the near post. Tom Hughes then rose highest to connect with the corner but Eden sprung to tip it over.
We steadied ourselves and, three minutes later, Clarke took down a goal kick before Jordan Higgs swept the ball out to Miller who nodded it past his marker. He burst towards the area before cutting onto his left foot but Williams got down well to smother the shot.
The game became a bit of a stalemate as it moved towards the break but our last good chance came after Walker won a free kick near the angle of the Horsham box on 39 minutes. Bradford just beat Williams to the delivery but his header flew off target.
HALF-TIME: 0 – 0