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Worgan walks but super Sam nets vital victory - 12/4/08

It may not have been their prettiest ninety minutes of football this season, and the final half an hour was as tense as any that their supporters will endure for a while to come, but United somehow emerged with three more precious points in their battle against the drop this afternoon, after grinding out the narrowest of victories away to relegation rivals Carshalton. As at Heybridge two weeks ago, Sam Adams struck the winning goal from the penalty spot in the early stages, but from the fifty-seventh minute on, he was employed as a stand-in goalkeeper, after Lee Worgan was sent off for handling a through ball just outside his area. Yet, despite having looked dangerous throughout much of the first half, Carshalton appeared almost completely bereft of ideas after the interval, and even more so after the sending off, with Sam not having a single save to make, and United defending as if their very lives depended on a clean sheet, taking a giant step towards Premier Division safety in the progress.

Once again, there were few surprises in United's starting eleven, with Tim Olorunda's return from a one match suspension allowing manager Tony Dolby to name what has clearly become his favoured line-up. Frankie Sawyer was back amongst the substitutes', and Ben Radley back to the Reserves, with Tony naming himself instead of assistant Mike Rutherford as the seventeenth man this week. Going into the game on the back of two impressive away wins, Carshalton's own season was on the verge of being salvaged, coinciding with the arrival of Fulham's young French born forward Ismael Ehui, and vastly experienced strike partner Charley Side. The Robins were denied the undoubted talents of the unavailable Phil Ruggles and Rob Ursell, but skipper David Graves was back from a two match suspension, and central defender Matt York was fresh from making his 250th appearance for the club a week previously.

There was an early sign of things to come, as United conceded a questionable free kick within the opening thirty seconds, James Evans picking out the livewire Ehui in the area, but Nathan Russell was well placed to cover the danger. Dean Standen then drilled the game's first shot wide of Lee's right hand post from thirty yards out, before United, playing with a good wind behind them in the first half, almost went in front from their first chance, Lee Carey's corner met at the near post by Ade Olorunda's glancing header, and Evans on hand to volley the ball off the line, with United claims that it had already crossed the line falling on deaf ears. Just a minute later though, United's penalty appeals were upheld, as Steve Elliott made the most of York's challenge, as he burst into the area, winning a dubious spot kick, from which Sam sent keeper Richard Barnard the wrong way to give United the lead. The home side almost produced a rapid reply, when neat interplay between Dean Carpenter and Ehui left Side in space just outside the area, but Lee Worgan was able to beat away his shot, while Ehui went close himself a couple of minutes later, but volleyed just over after Side had charged down Jimmy Elford's attempted clearance. Sam forced Barnard into a smart save to tip over a fiercely struck twenty yard effort at the mid-point of the half, but that was to be United's final sight of goal for some time, as Carshalton kept the visitors pinned back deep in their own territory for the remainder of the first half, Graves firing just wide after Nathan had only partially cleared a Carpenter cross, and Ehui looping a backward header onto the roof of the net from another Evans free kick. Their best chance of the opening period arrived in stoppage time though, with Nathan missing a simple looking clearance from Liam Harwood's long ball, sending Side scampering through on goal, but Lee was quickly out of his area to deny him a clean shot on target.

United seemed more at ease with life for the first ten minutes after the restart, dealing more comfortably with the home side's increasingly sporadic threat, and looking to break quickly whenever possible. Their plans were undone in an instant however, as a hopeful long ball from left back Lewis Gonsalves brought Lee out of his area again, intent on chesting the ball clear of Ehui, who had stolen a yard on Nathan. Although the referee apparently thought nothing of the incident, the assistant flagged immediately for an infringement, clearly believing Lee to have deliberately used his arm to have controlled the ball, and with Ehui having been denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity, the red card was an inevitable conclusion, whether justified or not. Ade was cautioned for overstepping the mark in his protest, with Mike sent from the dugout a few minutes later, having shared his own forthright opinion as to the officials' performance to that point. Without a replacement keeper on the bench, Sam volunteered to don Lee's jersey, his first task to line up an effective defensive wall that dealt with Harwood's tame free kick, the same player later heading over from Standen's inviting chip into the middle. That was a very rare decent delivery into the United area though, as all too often, Carshalton simply employed the rather unimaginative tactic of sending aimless long balls into a rather congested final third, which were either competently dealt with by United's two disciplined banks of four, or sailed harmlessly out of play on the breeze, as Sam became as much as spectator as his opposite number at times. The Robins made a double substitution with twenty minutes left, introducing two fresh wingers and seeking to stretch the play at every opportunity by pushing defender Harwood into a three man front line, but the quality of delivery showed no sign of improvement, and the quality of Carshalton's passing also left a lot to be desired. Indeed, one of Sam's more awkward moments came direct from Barnard's huge punt, which forced him to punch clear of Harwood, the loose ball collected by Side, who set up Jason Henry for a twenty yard shot that flew just wide. On the whole though, Athletic were failing to match United's workrate and tenacity in the tackle, while Steve down the right, and Russell Eldridge down the left, almost combined for a clinching second goal, Graves doing well to block the latter's goalbound effort at the expense of a corner. Deep into stoppage time, Michael Johnson's cross from the left was headed on by Harwood, and Sam again reacted quickly to punch the ball away from the lurking Ehui, the ball then half cleared as far as Side, whose powerful shot was superbly blocked by Nathan Simpson on the edge of the area, epitomising the spirit and character that ultimately carried United to victory.

The win took United to the fifty point mark, once set by Tony as the benchmark for avoiding relegation, although it could well be that another point or two are required before thoughts can start turning to next season. United may still be thankful for the fact that they visit bottom of the table Leyton on the final day of the season, but they will hope to guarantee their Premier Division future with a win at home to play-off chasing Ramsgate next weekend, if only to give everyone a more relaxing trip to east London at the end of the month.

Match facts	Efforts on target	Efforts off target	Free kicks conceded	Corners won	Offsides against
Carshalton Athletic	2	7	9	4	2
Hastings United	3	1	18	3	4

Carshalton Athletic (4-4-2)							Hastings United (4-4-2)
1 Richard Barnard							1 Lee Worgan
2 David Graves (c)							2 Jimmy Elford (c)
3 Lewis Gonsalves							3 Nathan Simpson
4 Matt York							4 Rhys Whyborne
5 Liam Harwood							5 Nathan Russell
6 Dean Standen							6 Lee Carey
7 Liam Collins							7 Steve Elliott
8 James Evans							8 Tim Olorunda
9 Charley Side							9 Ade Olorunda
10 Ismael Ehui							10 Sam Adams
11 Dean Carpenter							11 Russell Eldridge
Substitutes
12 Simon Cooper							12 Danny Leach
14 Stuart Harte							14 Frankie Sawyer
15 Michael Johnson (for Carpenter 70)							15 Antonio Gonnella
16 Jason Henry (for Evans 70)							16 Matt Maclean
GK Aaron Howe							17 Tony Dolby

Attendance 351

Referee Mr M D Rowley

Assistants Messrs P Beadle & N Wallace