Carshalton Athletic recorded their second 3-1 win on the bounce as we took all three points away from Chipstead, writes James Barrett
The game started very even with Ten-Grotenhuis and Peter Adeniyi winning the majority of the early aerial battles, but two of our ex-players combined on seven minutes to open the scoring.
Pinnock dug a cross out on the left and the unchecked run of Marshall meant his ghosted header flew across Luke Colquhoun and inside the far post.
We almost responded straightaway as Tommy Bradford collected a deep Korboa cross and shuffled it out to the incoming Adeniyi. The midfielder approached the hosts goal and checked inside a Quarm tackle but goalkeeper Alex Kozakis got down to save his low shot.
Both sides were looking to attack when possible but clear cut chances were at a premium; a Paris Hamilton-Downes cross caused Kozakis concern at his far post while Colquhoun comfortably gathered a 25-yard Summers free kick.
The home side called for a penalty on 24 minutes as Summers put Pinnock in on goal but Downs’ recovering block was deemed fair by the referee.
We won a corner on 29 minutes and the low delivery was cleared out from Chipstead’s six-yard box. Hamilton-Downes took the ball down and took aim from 30 yards but his shot took a deflection on its way through. Michael Campbell reacted and turned the ball on target from close range but he was denied by the legs of Kozakis.
We kept up the pressure and we equalised five minutes later after a short corner routine saw Hamilton-Downes split two opponents with a pass to Bradford who smashed the ball home low from 18 yards through a crowd of bodies.
And we completely turned the scoreline around on 38 minutes as Bradford, following good work by Korboa, blasted his 20th goal of the season from a similar distance as the ball bounced over the dive of Kozakis.
The game settled back down again after that but Hamilton-Downes was alert after a Pinnock cross wasn’t properly cleared and our man blocked Charlie Carter’s shot from 15 yards.
HALF-TIME: 1 – 2
Mickel Miller was introduced for Brendan Murphy-McVey for the start of the second-half and Ricardo Panton blasted a shot over Kozakis’ bar from 18 yards as we started brightly.
But Chipstead slowly came back into the game as an attacking force and Summers had two opportunities to test Colquhoun but our former striker failed to hit the target with either.
That changed on 55 minutes however as Marshall dummied a Carter pullback from our byline and Summers took aim from the edge of our box, but Colquhoun brilliantly tipped the ball over the crossbar and we cleared the resultant corner.
The game saw a flurry of bookings after that, including one for Korboa whom seemed to be clipped inside the home side’s box by a defender but he was shown a yellow card for simulation.
Colquhoun and Downs both kept us in the lead on 65 minutes as they both blocked close range efforts from Carter and Quarm respectively.
And we went up the other end and this time Korboa’s pace earned him a penalty via another foul and Bradford completed his hat-trick as he sent Kozakis the wrong way.
Chipstead tried to rally again but Colquhoun was equal to a low Khan strike before sub Anthony Kozakis curled one just the wrong side of our far post with his first touch.
Campbell had a couple of late chances to extend our winning margin but firstly Kozakis did enough to force our striker wide of goal and allow defenders to recover and block his eventual shot, then he latched onto an Esteban Salgado through ball on 87 minutes but the home keeper saved the left-footed hit.
Next up: We welcome East Grinstead Town on Saturday 19th March before we travel to Corinthian Casuals on Monday 21st March.
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