Carshalton Athletic 0 Lowestoft Town 1

Att 147

Teams:-
Carshalton Athletic: White, Price, Hamilton-Downes (Wilson 80 mins), Males, Sinclair, Rowe, Taylor, Patterson (Henry 80 mins), Dunn, Bradford, Hall (Moraes 29 mins)
Subs; Wilson, Henry, Greene, Moraes, Murphy-McVey

Lowestoft Town: Jones, Williams, Gaughran, Gleeson, Haynes-Brown (Stuart Ainsley 57 mins), Jack Ainsley (Henderson 63 mins), Fisk, Jarvis, Eagle, Frew (Okay 86 mins), Reed
Subs; Okay, Henderson, Stuart Ainsley

In a scrappy game in which Lowestoft should have had a penalty and Carshalton Athletic were harshly reduced to ten early on; Reed scores in a 1-0 win for the blues.

Carshalton headed into the game after beating Bury Town 1-0 through the week but were still mindful of the threat of Reed up top for Lowestoft, with the striker having scored four debut goals in the 5-0 win earlier in the season.

Haynes-Brown returned for Lowestoft, while seventeen year old keeper, White, made his home debut for The Robins.

The rare conditions of a sunny and dry day were present as the match got underway. The opening exchanges, however, were far from bright with the ball being in the air more than it was on the ground and both teams looking to find their feet.
A big kick from Jones saw Frew hold the ball up really well in the Carshalton area, as Lowestoft started to try and take the initiative but the scrappy start to the game continued.
It wasn't until just after the fifteen minute mark before Lowestoft put some excellent passing together to release Jack Ainsley down the right and with him finding Reed just inside the area, the last man defender swiped through his ankles to send him to the deck. Loud appeals followed for what looked like a certain penalty but the appeals were waved away by the referee.
Carshalton were struggling to put more than a few passes together but did create a good chance from a break. As a pass came out from the Carshalton defence, Hall broke and with the Lowestoft defence on the back-foot, he slide in Dunn to his right but his low drilled effort from the angle was right at Jones in the Lowestoft goal.
Lowestoft reacted by going straight on the attack again and with Reed being found yet again up top, he was wiped out by Sinclair just outside the box. It was a clear foul and a certain booking but in what was a harsh blow for Carshalton, the red card was shown. It wasn't a clear goal scoring chance and Carshalton were right to feel aggrieved by the decision to reduce them to ten men after just twenty four minutes.
Just five minutes passed before Carshalton reacted to the red card, as they introduced defender Moraes for forward Hall, in order to shore things up.
Jarvis and Fisk were putting in a good midfield showing for Lowestoft but with just over thirty minutes gone it was still proving to be an unattractive spectacle for the onlookers.
As halftime approached Lowestoft were starting to put some play together and looked to be applying some pressure, in the hope of taking a lead into the break.
An Eagle corner flashed across the face of goal and shortly following this another Eagle delivery was glanced across the face of goal by Gaughran. Lowestoft, however didn't test the young keeper and had to settle for a goalless scoreline as they headed for the dressing room.

It was a slow start to the second half as Lowestoft picked their first of three bookings up with Jack Ainsley being shown yellow for a poorly timed tackle.
The Carshalton keeper and defender Moraes were nearly left blushing by Reed, as the Lowestoft predator very nearly stole the ball off them in the area but the keeper managed to reclaim and the home goal remained intact.
Carshalton were playing much higher up the pitch this half and were keeping Lowestoft at bay, while also trying to find an opening themselves.
It was not the greatest of pitches for a rusty looking Haynes-Brown to return on and with him starting to look a little tired, Stuart Ainsley was introduced.
Ten men Carshalton were certainly working very hard and Lowestoft looked like a team that just needed a goal to change the game but even with Frew holding the ball up well, that goal wasn't looking like coming as the first fifteen of the second half passed.
Lowestoft needed some new ideas and their second change was made, with Henderson coming on in place of Jack Ainsley. There was now twenty five minutes remaining for Lowestoft to find something but as of yet neither keeper had been asked to make a save.
Eagle and Reed nearly worked a chance with some determined play inside the Carshalton area but the defence showed good strength to clear. Then up the other end Carshalton nearly created a chance of their own but Jones was alert and came out to clear the danger.
Henderson was now starting to come in off the right to try and open something up but it just wasn't working for Lowestoft as the final fifteen arrived.
Then finally Lowestoft got the crucial breakthrough and it was the man that Carshalton must be sick of the sight of, as Jake Reed notched his fifth goal in two games against The Robins. Frew did brilliantly to hold the ball up well in the middle of the pitch before finding Henderson to his right charging in on goal but as the defender challenged him, the ball went right into the path of Reed, who perfectly placed it past the keeper and just inside the post for 1-0 (76 mins).
Carshalton made their final two changes from the bench as Wilson and Henry were thrown into the mix. It nearly proved to be a great change, as a ball over the top found Henry and with him cutting Lowestoft open at the back, a ball came across the box but was eventually scrambled away by the blues.
Lowestoft made their final change as Okay replaced Frew with just under five minutes of regular time remaining. Carshalton struggled to make any inroads though and even with a large amount of stoppage time coming from nowhere, Lowestoft saw the game out and took three valuable points.

It's not always about how you get the points and Lowestoft would have come away from games like this in the past with a point at best. It wasn't pretty and both keepers had very little to do but Lowestoft kept plucking away on a tricky pitch and were rewarded when Reed showed yet again that he only needs one sniff at goal to take his chance.

Henderson made a change when coming on for Lowestoft but three players in particular stood out today. Frew showed good hold up play for most of the match and played a part in the goal. While Fisk put in another constantly good midfield showing, alongside my Man of the Match Rossi Jarvis with his great box-to-box performance for Lowestoft.

Terry Bullen