Reserves pay the penalty

Eastleigh 2nd XI 1-3 Carshalton Athletic Res.

Suburban Premier League

TEAM: Andy Wynn, Niall Bryant, Justin Hall, Jason Sangha, Sam Doswell, Perry Mullins, Chris Mason, James Screen, Tom Winzar, Scott Waters, Doug Rowe.

SUBS: Adam Wiltshire (on for Winzar 62), Joe Maxwell (on for Hall 62), Aaron Milburn (on for Waters 80)

Match Report by Jamie Montigue

Carshalton Athletic’s high-flying reserve side, who sit 2nd placed in the Suburban Premier League, were today's visitors to the Silverlake Stadium.

Seemingly determined to come away with a good result, the visitors started the game at a good pace and had the first opportunity, Danny Elgar heading narrowly behind from an impressive left wing cross from Anthony Bridgeman in the opening stages.

Andy Wynn, the Eastleigh goalkeeper was forced into a fine athletic save as he tipped over the cross bar to thwart a good shot on the spin minutes later.

Eastleigh had very little by way of ‘clear-cut’ chances and were limited to the odd attempt from distance. The hosts first real threat came from Dougie Rowe who spotted the Carshalton goalkeeper advancing from his goalline and reacted to this by clipping the ball towards goal and over the keeper only to be denied by a well-positioned defender who was on hand to clear the danger for a corner kick.

From the resulting set-piece, Sam Doswell stole in at the far post to meet a fine delivery from the far side, coming within inches of finding a goal with his header.

A well worked free kick almost paid dividends shortly after. James Screen floated the ball into the box where the ball was headed on by Rowe, and then chested down by Scott Waters into the path of Chris Mason, who forced a corner kick.

Despite appearing to brighten up, it looked to be short-lived for Eastleigh, as Carshalton again took the upper-hand with a good deal of pressure piling up on Wynn’s goal from consecutive corner kicks amongst other opportunites for the visitors.

Out of nothing, a moment of pure inspiration from the captain, Chris Mason resulted in Adie Burford’s young Eastleigh side taking a 30th minute lead. The skipper drove on from midfield before picking out the bottom left hand corner from range with a low, crisp drive which beat the dive of the goalkeeper.

Slowly but surely Carshalton worked their way back into the game.

A free kick on 37 minutes, just outside the penalty area, went straight past the wall but thankfully was comfortably dealt with low down by Wynn.

Six minutes before the break, a mistimed challenge from Jason Sangha handed the visitors a penalty kick from which Martin Dell tucked away to the left of goal despite Wynn’s best efforts. The Eastleigh stopper guessed the right way and was unlucky not to have kept the spot kick out having got a hand to it.

Things went from bad to worse for the Spitfires on the stroke of half time as Justin Hall this time conceded a second penalty of the afternoon, wrapping his arms around Lance Banton-Brown. The centre forward from Carshalton, who actually won the first penalty not so long before, went down very easily and was always looking to win the referee over. Dell stepped up confidently once more to fire out of reach into the top corner.

HALF TIME: Eastleigh 2nd XI 1-2 Carshalton Athletic Res.

Despite the setbacks towards the end of the first half, Eastleigh came out looking the brighter side at the start of the second forty-five.

Perry Mullins had a shot deflected behind for a corner early on, before another neat interchange from the home side involving Waters and Doswell in the approach saw a close range effort narrowly evade hitting the target.

Eastleigh’s goalscorer Chris Mason curled a shot from 25-yards over the cross bar as the miserable weather and rain set in. The difficult conditions only adding to Eastleigh’s dilemma and situation of being a goal down making it hard for them to play there passing game.

A little over ten minutes into the second half, Eastleigh enjoying the better of this period of time, Carshalton added a third and from here there didn’t look to be a way back.

Vigan Qehaja turned neatly in a tight area before getting his shot in which spun wickedly towards goal. Wynn spilled it allowing Banton-Brown to pounce and poke home from close range.

Eastleigh went to three at the back in favour of pushing numbers forward following the double substitution of Adam Wiltshire and Joe Maxwell who came on for Tom Winzar and Justin Hall.

Fifteen minutes from time, a ball in to the area from Screen on the left flank was helped on by Maxwell to find Mullins in acres of space. The winger opted for heading the ball first time, which looped up to provide an easy save for the Carshalton keeper. This was perhaps Eastleigh’s best opportunity but unfortunately it did not come off.

Aaron Milburn made a comeback from injury with ten minutes remaining as he replaced Scott Waters.

A late chance from the hosts saw Perry Mullins’ pace take him beyond his marker before watching his delightful cross come back off the cross bar.

FULL TIME: Eastleigh 2nd XI 1-3 Carshalton Athletic Res.