Carshalton Athletic's forward Kingsley Aikhionbare pounced late on to give the club victory on the Kent coast at the weekend, writes James Barrett
The 2-1 win at Whitstable Town was our first away win since the same player hit an injury-time winner at Hastings United almost 12 months ago.
Team news: Forward Craig Mullen was given his debut after signing on with the club at the start of the week. Defender Adam Thompson came back into the side, while Tommy Bradford and Lewis Gonsalves returned on the bench.
We seemed up for the afternoon ahead as Lee Hall confidently latched onto a loose ball 35 yards from goal and, with only 45 seconds on the clock, hit a dipping shot that flew not far off target.
Whitstable Town v Carshalton Athletic - 15 August 2015 251 photos
Match photos
The home defence conceded a corner on five minutes and Greg Andrews’ delivery was headed straight back to him. He composed himself before whipping a cross to the back post which Mickel Miller stooped to head back, via a slight deflection, into the net.
Whitstable’s first dangerous ball into our box was swept away by Thompson but they kept the ball alive on the left. It eventually found its way across our area and Sam Bewick smashed an equaliser into the top far corner from 20 yards on 11 minutes.
The home side grew in confidence and put us on the back foot for the next few minutes. The closest they came to getting another was on 15 minutes as Matt Willard failed to grasp a bouncing cross at full stretch and Nick Treadwell, playing à la Marouane Fellaini in his Everton pomp, tried to turn the ball home, but the young keeper bravely dove at the feet of the big midfielder.
We almost replicated our goal on 19 minutes but the same Andrews-Miller combination this time saw the midfielder head wide of the target.
A slightly strange incident occurred two minutes later and Miller was at the heart of it. He went on a mazy run and, after a neat one-two with Hall, drew a foul deep in the right of Town territory. The linesman flagged but referee Rowley played advantage and Miller managed to cut into the box before being bundled over again. A penalty seemed odds on but the referee blew and gave the original free kick, much to the consternation of everyone associated with the club.
Town hit us on the break just before the half-hour and Bewick blazed over from a good position before we had a golden chance to retake the lead shortly after.
Andrews sprung a high Town backline with a pass that put Sean O’Toole free towards goal. Having so much time, our man perhaps couldn’t decide whether to shoot earlier or try and go round keeper Adam Highsted whom narrowed the angle and eventually forced our midfielder to put a shot millimetres wide of the far post.
Attacks were traded as the half came to an end; Miller had a shot blocked just in front of goal, Adriano Moraes headed a corner back across Town’s goal that only needed a touch from someone and Town defender Joe Kenness thrashed a volley over our crossbar from 12 yards.
HALF-TIME: 1 – 1
We broke from that and, via Miller, Andrews and Mullen, the ball found Paris Hamilton-Downes out on the left. The defender cut into the home box but was eventually crowded out before he could get a shot off.
Bradford came on for Andrews shortly before we earned a corner which was initially headed away. Hall dinked the ball back in and Thompson found himself free in front of goal but, as he shaped to shoot, he was denied by a late linesman’s flag.
Willard caught and bowled out a Town cross to Miller just after the hour mark and the winger took the ball past two opponents before squaring inside to Bradford, but the substitute hit a shot high over the bar.
Both sides continued to press for the advantage; Willard comfortably dealing with a low Scott Heard effort while a Jake Downs cross was just missed by both O’Toole and Aikhionbare, the latter only being on the pitch for 60 seconds.
As important as the eventual winning goal was, a special mention for Willard comes before it. Town subs Ira Jackson and Charlie Smith combined to put the latter completely free on goal. He seemed destined, from a central position, to put our hosts in front but Willard stood big and got down low to his left to prevent the shot getting past him.
Our man between the sticks also parried an Adam Woolcott free kick away from his near bottom corner on 85 minutes and we grabbed our winner a minute later.
A high ball into the Town box caused hesitation between highsted and one of his defenders. Aikhionbare didn’t stop tracking the flight of the ball and found himself between the pair, managing to turn the ball through the keeper’s legs from six yards.
Next up: We travel to Whyteleafe for a Ryman League cup tie on Tuesday 18th August before Sittingbourne arrive at ours for a league game on Saturday 22nd August. We then visit Tooting and Mitcham United on Tuesday 25th August.
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