It was a first win under Chris McGinn for Carshalton Athletic as they demonstrated by a fluent performance all round, writes John Kistner
On a dull afternoon with fine rain at Church Road, the Robins put on a good performance on Whyteleafe's 3G pitch. In fact both sides passed the ball well, but the Robins played some exquisite football with intricate close passing throughout the team all over the pitch. Murphy-McVey was the Robins playmaker in central midfield and Higgs and Adeniyi made for a solid partnership between the three central midfield players.
Matt Males and captain Tony Sinclair have struck up a good understanding and their partnership in the centre of the Robins defence kept the dangerous DSane at bay throughout the 90 minutes. This was aided by attacking overlapping full-back play from Panton and Hamilton-Downes who struck up a good understanding with Bradford and Korboa in front of them. Miller worked hard all afternoon up-front on his own, and the Robins game plan of pressing the Leafe players as a unit paid dividends and kept the team in the ascendency for most of the afternoon.
The first goal for the Robins was scored after 8 minutes by Ricardo Panton on a foraging run down the right flank, after the ball was played through to him by Peter Adeniyi. He cut inside his full-back with pace and unleashed a cross-shot from just inside the right-hand side of the area which flew past Highsted's right hand in the Leafe goal.
Leafe tended to try and hit their forwards with long balls over the top for DSane and Clements to run on to, but they were flagged offside on many occasions as they found it hard to receive good service. On 34 minutes, Adeniyi was again the provider down the right-hand flank, and he played a delightful ball across the six-yard box which Korboa slotted in at the far post.
HALF-TIME: 2 - 0
The second half started brightly for Leafe and on 49 minutes Sam Clayton slotted in a low drive from the edge of the box through a wall of players in front of him, giving Colquhoun in the Robins goal little chance, as he seemed to be unsighted as he dived and the ball flew in low to his right.
However, the Robins bounced back on 54 minutes with an opportunistic goal from Higgs who was lively all afternoon. Again Korboa played in a delightful square ball from out wide on the left flank, which Higgs despatched with venom to make the score 3-1.
Miller had worked tirelessly all afternoon on his own up-top and he was substituted on 54 minutes by the returning Michael Campbell, who also showed his turn of pace on many occasions in the 30 or so minutes he was on the pitch. Murphy-McVey was rested for the final 5 minutes and came off to much applause from the Robins supporters.
There followed a flurry of substitutions from both sides but the result never appeared to be in any doubt. This was a fluent performance from all the players, and not only was the result pleasing as Chris McGinn's first win since taking over recently, but the performance matched the result.
Finally, it was pleasing to see the whole squad's togetherness not just before, but also during and after the match, and also their acknowledgment of the Robins fans support at the final whistle.