Post by youngspur on Jan 30, 2024 22:53:25 GMT
Oh, for a Plan B! Carshalton's stranglehold on the first hour of this game left a much-reduced midweek crowd wondering why it had taken this long for an opposition side to figure out our painstaking (or should that read painful?) build-from-the-back gameplan - especially when they could reap rewards like this.
Peter Adeniyi's men barely gave us a sniff in the entire first half by the simple expedient of keeping three men on permanent sentry duty on the edge of our six-yard box. Deprived of our usual out ball, we floundered and Nathan Harvey was forced to punt long time and again. It has to be said that he is not very good at this. For all the Robins' possession, though, they managed little of note until a corner was glanced home after one of our number had blasted an attempted clearance off Ronnie Vint's bonce and out of play behind the goal. The last few minutes of the half brought a few crumbs of encouragement, Arthur Penney's snapshot from the edge of the area deflecting narrowly wide in the last meaningful act.
It didn't take a genius to see what was going on, but the first ten minutes of the second period carried on in much the same vein - and the Rooks were punished. Marcus Sablier, whose error had gifted Margate a goal at the weekend, was the culprit again, dawdling on possession twenty yards out from goal and allowing his opposite number to scoop a cushioned finish into the bottom corner for what looked an unassailable two-goal lead. Tony sent on the cavalry: Archie for the hapless Sablier, who seems to be lacking match sharpness, and Ryan Gondoh for Tommy Wood; Ola went up front to test the acceleration of the visitors' hefty centre halves.
Archie made an instant impact with his direct and dogged running. Was it a coincidence that Carshalton began to back off for the first time all evening just as his searching forays were giving them something to think about? Alas, we sealed our own fate about twenty-five minutes from time when Nathan indulged in some inexplicable dithering at the back before rolling a half-hearted pass towards Sam Oguntayo in the left-back position. It never reached him and the attacker, scarcely believing his luck, lobbed the careless keeper to put the game beyond our reach.
We hit back almost straight away when Ryan won and converted a spot kick, but it would prove too little too late. Nonetheless, the last half hour offered a maddening glimpse of what might have been as we discovered both a sense of urgency and a spirit of enterprise to force Carshalton onto the back foot. Gone were the fastidious but pointless interchanges in the defensive third and the agonising delays before picking the perfect pass - except for an aberration from Vint that almost cost us from a position of no danger whatsoever - and weren't we a better proposition for it! The away side restricted us to few clear-cut chances, but they no longer looked invincible in the face of our new-found fearlessness (and, yes, some desperation). Why, I'd like to know, do we so rarely trust in our players' ability to beat their man in a duel? Why deny them the licence to bring their pace, power and close control to bear on their opposite number when, in Kalvin Lumbombo-Kalala, Ola and Ryan, we have at our disposal a trio of wingers who have all three of those attributes in abundance?
We're still firmly in the running for a play-off place thanks to our games in hand, but we'll only have ourselves to blame if we fall short.
Peter Adeniyi's men barely gave us a sniff in the entire first half by the simple expedient of keeping three men on permanent sentry duty on the edge of our six-yard box. Deprived of our usual out ball, we floundered and Nathan Harvey was forced to punt long time and again. It has to be said that he is not very good at this. For all the Robins' possession, though, they managed little of note until a corner was glanced home after one of our number had blasted an attempted clearance off Ronnie Vint's bonce and out of play behind the goal. The last few minutes of the half brought a few crumbs of encouragement, Arthur Penney's snapshot from the edge of the area deflecting narrowly wide in the last meaningful act.
It didn't take a genius to see what was going on, but the first ten minutes of the second period carried on in much the same vein - and the Rooks were punished. Marcus Sablier, whose error had gifted Margate a goal at the weekend, was the culprit again, dawdling on possession twenty yards out from goal and allowing his opposite number to scoop a cushioned finish into the bottom corner for what looked an unassailable two-goal lead. Tony sent on the cavalry: Archie for the hapless Sablier, who seems to be lacking match sharpness, and Ryan Gondoh for Tommy Wood; Ola went up front to test the acceleration of the visitors' hefty centre halves.
Archie made an instant impact with his direct and dogged running. Was it a coincidence that Carshalton began to back off for the first time all evening just as his searching forays were giving them something to think about? Alas, we sealed our own fate about twenty-five minutes from time when Nathan indulged in some inexplicable dithering at the back before rolling a half-hearted pass towards Sam Oguntayo in the left-back position. It never reached him and the attacker, scarcely believing his luck, lobbed the careless keeper to put the game beyond our reach.
We hit back almost straight away when Ryan won and converted a spot kick, but it would prove too little too late. Nonetheless, the last half hour offered a maddening glimpse of what might have been as we discovered both a sense of urgency and a spirit of enterprise to force Carshalton onto the back foot. Gone were the fastidious but pointless interchanges in the defensive third and the agonising delays before picking the perfect pass - except for an aberration from Vint that almost cost us from a position of no danger whatsoever - and weren't we a better proposition for it! The away side restricted us to few clear-cut chances, but they no longer looked invincible in the face of our new-found fearlessness (and, yes, some desperation). Why, I'd like to know, do we so rarely trust in our players' ability to beat their man in a duel? Why deny them the licence to bring their pace, power and close control to bear on their opposite number when, in Kalvin Lumbombo-Kalala, Ola and Ryan, we have at our disposal a trio of wingers who have all three of those attributes in abundance?
We're still firmly in the running for a play-off place thanks to our games in hand, but we'll only have ourselves to blame if we fall short.
