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Carshalton Athletic 0-3 Chelmsford City, Tuesday 17th October 2006, Colston Avenue, Kick-Off 7:30pm, Ryman League Premier Division.
Goals after the break from Ricky Holmes, Mario Noto and Kezie Ibe consigned Surrey side Carshalton to a three-goal defeat as Chelmsford hit top gear for 45 minutes at Colston Avenue. Richard McKinney also saved a first-half penalty to set the Clarets on their way to a three-point haul which underlined their credentials for promotion this season. With almost the same personnel on show from the Rugby Town F.A. Cup victory at the weekend, Jeff King showed how settled his side was with the exception of the rotation of the forwards as Kezie Ibe and Ricky Holmes replaced Jason Hallett and Tony Battersby. Their opponents on this occasion were relegated from the Nationwide Conference South last season and this year had been struggling to find their feet. Holmes created the first effort of note for the visiting victims of M25 traffic, twisting and turning before dragging a shot wide of goal on 14 minutes. But three minutes later a peak in Carshalton's evening arrived as Ben Chenery blocked Craig Dundas' dangerous-looking strike but in the process of returning to his feet placed his hand on the ball and gave away a penalty-kick. However, Athletic couldn't account for McKinney's exceptional form of late and even a spot-kick didn't phase him, pushing away John Cartledge's effort to preserve his clean sheet. The Clarets were not in full flow during the first 45 minutes and a 20th-minute Noto cross that caused brief panic was one of the few highlights. With around ten minutes left of the period Ibe took the ball wide of a defender and produced a low bobbling shot into custodian Paul Seuke's arms while at the other end McKinney was in action again to keep out Dundas' header at full-stretch. After the break it was a different story and on 51 minutes the away side went ahead. Ricky Holmes was slipped through to bear down on Seuke and he made no mistake in converting from close range underneath the Athletic 'keeper. Apart from a plethora of bookings the only other incidents of interest seemed to be City goals and Mario Noto got in on the act 63 minutes into the game. He cleverly placed his long-range free-kick inside the near post to confirm his place as one of the team's most deadly strikers of a football. There was a scare for Chelmsford three minutes later as Jay Conroy seemingly felled an attacker as the last man on the edge of the box but, instead of a red card and a penalty, he escaped with a caution and a free-kick. This was indicative of how the hosts' night was proceeding and Kezie Ibe was in no mood to be charitable fourteen minutes from the end as his deadly finishing, after tricking his way past a couple of defenders, added gloss with a third City strike. By the end, Carshalton came close to finding their own net through a mis-hit clearance that Seuke dealt with and it was a comfortable win for the Clarets whose three points placed them just behind the leading pack in the Ryman Premier. City: 1 Richard McKinney 12 Tony Battersby Rugby Town: Paul Seuke, Colin Hartburn, Liam Harwood, David Graves, John Cartledge, Gary Drewitt, Matt Howard, Adrian Toppin, Mark Marshall, Craig Dundas, Alijee Jabbie. Subs: Luke Fontana, Levi Coleman, Danny Platel. Bookings: City: Chenery (17, handball), Noto (48, dissent), Manuella (64, foul), Conroy (66, foul), Ibe (78, foul). Carshalton: Drewitt (36, foul), Dundas (56, unsporting behaviour), Graves (62, foul), Marshall. Referee: Mr Steve Daly. Assistant Referees: Mr M.W. Ford and Mr A.K. Neil. Attendance: 258. City Man of the Match: Richard McKinney. |
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By Chris
Evans (Picture by Matt Bradshaw)
