Carshalton Athletic's unbeaten run came to end on Tuesday night by virtue of one goal in Dorking, writes James Barrett
Team news: Dan Summers, Bobby Price and Youseef Bamba were all injured from Saturday, so there were starts for Jake Downs, Saidou Khan and Kingsley Aikhionbare. The returning Jarrel Gray, who last played for the club around a year ago, was also given a start .
Both sides began the game displaying a high energy but the only goal game came in the fifth minute. Dorking's Kevin Terry latched on to a long pass out on the left before driving into our box, cutting inside Downs and curling a shot past Luke Colquhoun.
And shortly after, as we looked to steady ourselves, defender Luke Hackett thankfully thumped a free header wide on a corner delivery.
Our first glimpse of the home goal came on 11 minutes as Billy Marshall kept in a Lee Hall pass before laying it off to Downs, but his effort lacked power and keeper Gary Ross comfortably collected it.
Dorking's intensive pressing game saw us struggle to build any long-term possession and we were grateful to Colquhoun for clearing the ball away from Tom Tolfrey after the forward broke our offside trap on 21 minutes.
Gray did well to read a poor back header to Ross shortly after that and the utility man broke into the home box, only to be sandwiched between the two recovering centre backs. The referee empathically waved away our man's call for a spot-kick however.
It was the home side still looking the more likely to score but Colquhoun got behind both a Tommy Hutchings drive and a dipping volley from 20 yards as the clock ticked towards the break.
Late on, Aikhionbare got the right side of his marker on a Downs pass but he mis-controlled the ball in front of Ross and a recovering defender cleared it for a corner. We took it short to Hall but the midfielder saw Ross tip his venomous angled shot over the bar at full stretch.
HALF-TIME: 1 - 0
Mickel Miller came on Gray for the start of the second-half and he won an early free kick on the left which Marshall whipped in. Aikhionbare met it on the full with his head but Ross instinctively palmed it over the bar to deny us a cert equaliser.
We were now playing some better football and, after one move involving half a dozen passes, Hamilton-Downes whipped in a cross that was just in front of the lunging Aikhionbare.
Then Khan went on a run that took him past two opponents before he was scythed down in the D of the home area, but Marshall's free kick was plucked out the air by Ross.
Boss Matt Howard threw on Bradford for Alex Summerfield just after the hour mark, then Khan was shaping to hit a shot from 18 yards but was poleaxed by an opponent who didn't touch the ball; no free kick was given.
Hamilton-Downes and Colquhoun both smothered Dorking half chances as the home side tried to rally but we kept on the pressure, while Khan was substituted for Josh Phillips.
Aikhionbare was denied by Ross again on 80 minutes as the striker hit a whipped first-time shot just inside the box that the keeper had to clutch at the second attempt.
And the pair squared off again three minutes later as we were awarded a penalty. Aikhionbare appeared confident but Ross saved his low effort to his right.
We kept plugging away right until the last but both Bradford and Marshall had near post headers which they couldn't guide on target.
Next up: We welcome league leaders Folkestone Invicta on Saturday 28th November before we visit Leatherhead in the Surrey Senior Cup on Wednesday 2nd December. We then travel to Peacehaven and Telscombe on Saturday 5th December.
Carshalton Athletic: Colquhoun; Downs, Males, Sinclair (c), Summerfield (Bradford - 62); Khan (Phillips - 72), Hall, Marshall, Hamilton-Downes; Aikhionbare, Gray (Miller - 46)
Unused subs: Alexander, Boosey
For full details of all of the club's activities go to : ROBINS