Carshalton Athletic 1 Enfield Town 0

Match report by John Dolan

This was a comfortable victory for Carshalton in a game where Town never really threatened in a game of few chances.

Billy Bricknell was brought back up front after missing the cup victory at Malden & Tiptree, and Sam Youngs replaced Aaron Greene wide on the right. Lewis Taaffe reported sick in the morning so Sam Chaney took the number ten role.

Carshalton took the only chance of the game in a first half of very few opportunities. Both teams spent most of the half eying each other up, with both defences relatively comfortable and there was a game of attrition in midfield with both sides trying to wrestle control of the game.

The Towners lost midfield dynamo and captain Ryan Blackman to injury in the 25th minute, and the consequent rearrangement saw Aaron Greene going wide for Sam Youngs who switched to the middle alongside Matt Johnson.

In the 34th minute good work down the right saw Mickey Parcell slip a pass inside to Billy Bricknell on the edge of the penalty area, but his early shot was too high. A long ball from Joe Wright was then chased by Bricknell and his early cross just eluded Sam Chaney at the near post. Carshalton had a lot of possession and looked dangerous at times but the Towners' defence kept them away from Joe Wright's goal right up until the 42nd minute. The only goal of the game started from a free kick on the edge of the D for the Town after a foul on Bricknell; but the kick from Sam Chaney was low and hit the wall, and 12 seconds later from a quick break Carshalton's Michael Dixon found himself on the edge of the penalty area and hit a powerful shot past Wright.

Half-time: Carshalton Athletic 1 Enfield Town 0

There was a further blow for Town with Matt Johnson limping off to be replaced in the middle by Sam Hatton, returning from suspension. The pattern of the game was still very tentative, but there was a spell of pressure from Carshalton as Jordan Cheadle had a long shot just over the bar, followed by a long run and cross from the impressive Peter Adeniyi that saw Kelvin Morath Gibbs hit a volley straight at Wright.

Enfield Town earned their first corner on 68 minutes which was cleared and then another spell of attacking form the hosts, with two successive interpassing moves ending in shots inside the box that Wright managed to pick up fairly comfortably. Then in the 73rd minute a rare long ball from the Robins saw Remi Sutton back tracking and his header back to Wright was intercepted by Dixon, whose attempt was wide. Dixon then had another shot just wide of the post as Athletic dominated possession at this point.

With 15 minutes left, Greene, hit a long cross that drifted goalwards and Patrick Ohman in Carshalton's goal had to be alert to tip the ball away. Although only one up, Carshalton seemed content to hold on to the win and, apart from a 20-yard shot from sub Liam Hope saved by Ohman at the death, they were rarely in any danger as the final whistle went. Overall a very disappointing display that will need to be improved upon for the difficult visit to Bognor Regis Town on Tuesday night (4th).

Enfield Town: Joe Wright, Mickey Parcell, Remi Sutton, Matt Johnson (Sam Hatton 52), Taofiq Olomowewe, Dan Rumens, Bilal Sayoud (Liam Hope 57), Ryan Blackman (Aaron Greene 27), Billy Bricknell, Sam Chaney, Sam Youngs. Unused: McLean, Noto. Booked: Olomowewe.

Carshalton Athletic: Patrick Ohman, Bobby Price, Jordan Cheadle, Danny Dudley, Daniel Pappoe, Paris Hamilton-Downes, Michael Aziaya (Kalvin Morath-Gibbs 61), Peter Adeniyi, Jacob Mendy, Tommy Bradford (Jerson Dos Santos 84), Michael Dixon (Ola Sogbanmu 78). Unused: Billy Bishop, Michael Onovwigun. Booked: Hamilton-Downes, Aziaya

Attendance: 319.