Catch-up

A thousand apologies to my legion of loyal readers in blogland who I have severely neglected over the last two months. When I tell you that I can no longer recommend BT as a provider of internet services, I think you will start to understand.

Anyway, you didn't come here to read about my petty problems, you came to hear about the mighty Robins. My last update was after a rather fluky win at Margate put us in 13th spot in the Ryman Premier and an undefeated November has seen us scream up the table to 12th, 15 points behind leaders Billericay and 16 points ahead of sad-sacks losers Horsham and Leatherhead.

The football is still not too pretty although the match at Kingstonian was as exciting a game as I've seen all season with the result in doubt until the final kick and both teams slugging it out like a couple of desperate Russian prize fighters.

So for the record:

Saturday 29th October
Concord Rangers 0 - 0 Carshalton Athletic

I know several of my fellow Robins fans are religious and begging their pardons, but Jesus.
I mean Jesus. Two trips to Canvey Island in the space of six weeks and this time we had the added joy of Benfleet station being closed so we cycled from Rayleigh, a distance of seven million miles, all uphill and into the wind. Both ways. And the game was shit. Really, really shit. 

Looking back on the match from the distance of a month and a half I can't remember anything about a dull nil nil draw except for an appalling smell from the sewage works behind one goal. This is not a good sign. 

I think this picture captures the beauty of the scene rather well. And yes, those are caravans, holiday chalets possibly, overlooking one side of the ground; in fact the side of the ground that I had to vacate as the nauseating sewage-smell descended. 

The high point of the trip was the chance to visit the Labworth Cafe again and it didn't disappoint. Lunch mark 9/10 but the match gets a 1/10 for a shitty smell and there wasn't even a club shop to ask if they stocked a pen so I can award our first minus score of the season;
-10/10

Total trip score a new low of 0/30. Impressive and we hope their present poor form continues into relegation. Bah.


Saturday 26th November
Maldon & Tiptree 0 - 1 Carshalton Athletic

A bumper crowd of 72 were drawn to Essex for this FA Trophy 3rd qualifying round game, including, as always, the Robins Cycle Crew. We travelled by train to Witham and had an enjoyable ride through pleasant countryside to Maldon. The slightly twee tearooms we lunched in were honest enough and the overall impression of Maldon was of a decent place going about its business in a pleasant enough way. Well done everyone. Lunch mark 7/10.

The ground, however, was not particularly nice. The biting wind came whistling through the stand which was not equipped with sides and there wasn't any other elevation in the ground. The game, of course, was pretty dire. I don't recall so many Carshalton fans being so negative about a performance as they were at half time of this match. It was nil nil at the time but Maldon are a league below us, had conceded nine goals in their last two games and had just sacked their manager who took several players with him. We were poor and it was only a bullet header from a typically fired-up David Ray that saved us from embarrassment. One bright point has been the emergence of Luke Nolan who has turned in committed and consistent performances in a number of positions over the last couple of months - an excellent prospect.

Mark for the match; 2/10, just because we won, but the lack of a club shop again means no club pen and another minus 10/10.

Total score; a new low of -1/30!

Incidentally if you are so inclined, I would recommend signing up to Twitter, not least to follow me (@carshaltonath), but also to follow our leader himself @pauldipre. As you would expect there have been some 'incidents' already.
Full story here:
http://suttonunited.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=4203
(warning: contains Sutton United)

Several Carshalton players are also on twitter and they sometimes provide interesting insights into the club. For instance this tweet from Francis Quarm @fquarm:
"Neva thought I'd be getting paid to sit at home in my non league career! 1st for everything!"

Which may be explained by an earlier Tweet:

"Ephesians 6:12"

I'll leave you to reach for your bibles and work out what all that's about. See ya. 

A social study - Margate 0 - 1 Carshalton Athletic

Three points for Carshalton is the bare fact from this game, but how Margate managed not to post a cricket score will puzzle everyone inside Hartsdown Park yesterday.

However the real story in Thanet yesterday was to be found in a couple of slices of life the Robins Zyklusgruppen witnessed on the way to the game. The first was on the train when a young woman and her six month old baby boarded and then gave us an interesting insight into her life as she berated the unfortunate father of her child for neglecting his responsibilities ("you facking have her, you never facking have her.") and then questioning his choice of partners the previous evening ("she's a facking slag, she's forty years old you dirty ......."). The poor boy's name was Eli and my heart goes out to him. I hope her threat to "rip his facking arms and legs off" hasn't come true; I bet he's regretting that brief moment of passion now.

This little vignette was echoed at the match later when a violent matrimonial dispute occurred  between a middle-aged couple; initially face to face by the burger van and then through a locked gate once the male party had been escorted from the ground.  

After our encounter on the train, our trip improved by a visit to my favourite cafe in all the world, Oscar's Festival Cafe in Broadstairs.

It's cramped and the menu's limited but the tea comes in teapots with cosies and china cups and the food is all home-cooked. If you want egg and chips this isn't the place for you but the world is defintely a better place for this cafe. Lunch mark, just pipping Canvey's Labworth cafe:  9.5/10.

A breezy and undulating ride from Broadstairs to Margate served to burn off the huge slices of Black Forest Gateau and we arrived at Hartsdown Park well satisfied. This ground always puzzles me, a club of Margate's size with a recent history of conference football should be playing in a much better stadium and they are in the process of sorting out planning permission. Until the building work the it remains undeveloped and unsatisfying as a viewing platform.

The one bit that is developed is behind one goal and this contains a bit of terrace, a bar and the club offices which include a shop. My request for a club pen was met with genuine enthusiasm and the pen scores a reasonable 8/10, in club colours but expensive at a quid. It even writes, which can't be taken for granted.

Onto the game itself - it was pretty dire, with Margate on top and creating chances at will. They lacked belief in front of goal and the longer the game went on, the more desperate they became. As often happens, the Robins scored a goal against the run of play; a weird shot hooked back goalward by Vines and headed into his own goal by a Margate defender. 

Carshalton took the points but that was the minor event in the day. At the moment the football is the worst part about supporting Carshalton. Match score 4/10.

Total - 17.5 out of 30

My own personal Everest - Hastings Utd 0 - 2 Carshalton Athletic

I'd been thinking about this game for months. A couple of seasons ago the game at Hastings had been a fairly dispiriting 3-1 loss but it also marked the low point of my cycling / football career; I was beaten, beaten by the hill up to the Pilot Field and, for shame, had to get off my bike and push. I blush with shame at the memory but today was my chance to exorcise that ghost.

Bexhill was our choice for lunch and the peloton descended on the fantastic De La Warr Pavilion on the seafront in the hope of another art deco-inspired cafe. The building looked  fantastic in the sun and when the refurbishment of the terrace area is complete it will be an amazing place to visit. However, it couldn't offer us much in the way of food so we adjourned over the road to one of the many cafes lining the seafront.

Lunch mark: 7/10 - food pretty good but it lost marks for the ordinariness of the surroundings and suffered from not being in the Pavilion.

Refuelled, we cycled along the coast road to Hastings until I came face to face with the beast that defeated me two years earlier. I got my head down, stood up in the pedals and attacked it. Halfway up the hill, the road bends round to the left and until then you can't see the top of the hill. That's what did for me previously; the sight of another two hundred yards of hill was too much but this time I was ready for it. Rounding it now I felt good. A glance at my rear gears told me I still had three cogs to click down on if needed but every push got me closer to the top. My lungs were screaming and my thighs knew they were in a fight but suddenly I was there; the road flattened out and the burning in my legs stopped. True, I had to lean on a handy lamp-post for a second and I'm pretty sure that if I'd had to go for a few more yards I would've blacked out, but I had made it. I had beaten that hill.

Moments later the peloton, all older than me, pedalled past waving cheerily. Curses.

Having gained the polka dot jersey in the Tour de Hastings, I scored another notable victory in the club shop - a pen! Only 50p and tastefully embossed with not only the club name but the web address as well, it even wrote beautifully first time out. Pen mark 8/10 - loses marks for not being in club colours but a fantastic effort all the same.

On arrival at the ground our match reporter, Peter Randall, had realised that his bag wasn't on the back of his bike so he retraced his steps eventually finding it on the wall of the De La Warr Pavilion where it had been left an hour or so previously, a fine testament to the honest folk of Bexhill. The following report is therefore by me rather than Peter, I'm afraid refunds are not available.

Saturday 3rd September
Hastings United (0) 0 - 2 (1) Carshalton Athletic
                                                  McDonald (16, 49)
Att 431

The sides went into this game with identical records; won one, drew one and lost two but the clubs expectations for the season are very different. Carshalton have spent heavily and attracted big names to their promotion-seeking squad whereas Hastings, alledgedly, are not paying players this season and are relying heavily on young players. I would imagine their target is to stay in the division.

On non-league day, a decent crowd gathered at a sunny Pilot Field and Hastings' youngsters started the game strongly with some slick passing but little penetration. On 16 minutes in pretty much Carshalton's first attacking foray, Dean McDonald was fouled as he ran at the defence and he picked himself up to take the free kick himself, some twenty yards from goal. His strong shot hit the defensive wall and Lloyd Anderson in the Hastings goal was wrongfooted and could only paw the ball in the net.  0-1 Carshalton.

There were some tasty challenges in the midfield and on 20 minutes Tom Davis was booked, an important moment in the game as minutes later the same player went down under a challenge in the penalty area and the referee (who, of course, was being assessed) produced a second yellow for simulation and sent Davis off. Bugger.

However, Carshalton supporters' worries proved unfounded as Hastings couldn't rouse themselves and in fact the Robins ended the half strongly as Craig Tanner drove forward and supplied Vines whose shot was blocked for a corner.

At the start of the second half Ricardo Joseph replaced Dean Lodge as Carshalton reorganised their ten men but they continued to move the ball well. On 49 minutes Billy Crook jinked down the right and pulled the ball back to McDonald who turned smartly and beat the defenders and keeper with a low shot. Hastings 0 - 2 Carshalton.

Robins keeper Nick Hamann was forced into rare action minutes later when Kenny Pogue connected with a volley from distance but the shot was turned over for a corner. Hastings' Dan Bowell suffered a nasty looking leg injury and was stretchered off, one of a number of late substitutuions but the pattern of the game was unchanged with Carshalton comfortable in possession. McDonald had a late chance for his hat trick as Anthony Joseph set him up but the striker's stabbed shot was held by Anderson.

Carshalton team: Hamann, Murphy, Tanner (Kamara), Ray, Roberts, Quarm, Crook, Davis, Vines (Joseph A), Lodge (Joseph R), McDonald
Subs. Ledgister, Chalmers-Stevens

Match experience score: 8/10. Managed to get to the ground without getting off my bike, excellent atmosphere from the travelling Robins and good views from the big grandstand.

Total - 23 out of 30 and we have a target for other trips this season.

   

Treasure Island - Canvey Island 1 - 2 Carshalton Athletic

So, a new season and first up for the Robins is a trip to the seaside. The journey for the Robins peleton was straightforward but the ride from Benfleet station across to the island is pretty depressing but in beautiful late summer sun even the dubious delights of Canvey looked mildly inviting. However, the secret of any trip to this part of the world is the fantastic Labworth cafe on the seafront just a short walk from the Park Lane ground. 

The cafe didn't disappoint and it thoroughly merited an early season 9 out of 10. However, the football club then let themselves down by not stocking pens in the club shop. Dreadful problem, especially as my idea for the season was to mark each trip on three categories: cafe, pen and match experience. Unfortunately, therefore, Canvey score 0 out of 10 in the pen section. Onto the game and Pete Randall's first match report of the season:

Saturday 20 August

Ryman League Premier Division

Canvey Island (1) 1                  Carshalton Athletic (1) 2

(Dobinson 17)                           ((McDonald (pen) 24, Vines 74)

Attendance: 402

Canvey away for the season’s opening game was sure to provide a stiff test for Paul Dipre’s new look Robins, so to leave the island with the points was definitely a result in every respect.  The re-appearance in goal of German legend, Nick Hamann, was a welcome surprise and, even without the services of Kieran Murphy and Laurent Hamici, this was a fairly impressive starting line-up.

Dean Lodge looked lively in the opening exchanges, something he continued to do throughout the game, and his skill and pace saw him twice come close to breaking through the Island defence early in the game.  At the other end, Hamann produced a good save from Danny Heale’s free-kick following David Ray’s handball.  The quality of the Robins players in possession was plain to see, but first priority is to win the ball and a failure to do this presented Alex Rhodes with a golden chance to put the home team ahead.  Hamann was relieved to see his weak shot pass wide of the post, but on 17 minutes the Robins were punished when Kevin Dobinson picked up the ball just inside the Carshalton half and was allowed to advance unchallenged to the edge of the area before beating Hamann with a low shot.  It could have been worse, but fortunately Heale’s fine volley two minutes later flew just over.  Carshalton finally seemed to get the message, starting to probe the Gulls defence, and on 24 minutes the scores were level.  Dean McDonald’s clever pass found Lodge on the left side of the area, only for the Robins debutant to have his ankles clipped by Michael Alaile.  Dean McDonald’s penalty gave James Russell no chance and the Robins continued to press for the remainder of the first half, but without creating another clear chance.

The sun came out for the start of the second half and both teams were slow to get into their stride.  Canvey had been forced to work hardest to stay on terms at the break and the question became whether the Robins extra quality would be enough to enable them to press on for the win that looked to be there for the taking the longer the game went on.  A quarter of an hour into the half Lodge fed the ball to Paul Vines and the striker’s attempt to curl this shot around Russell and into the far corner was only just wide.  With 20 minutes remaining Tom Davis came on in substitute and the midfield settled down to look more comfortable for the rest of the game.  Rob King served up a reminder that Canvey were still in the game with a shot on the right that sailed too high to trouble Hamann and on 74 minutes the Robins edged in front when Vines passed the ball through Russell’s leg into the net, Lodge again being the supplier.  Canvey were left to chase the game and switched to a more direct style that rarely troubled the Carshalton defence.  Vines had a half chance to increase the lead, but his clever attempt to chip the ball over Russell was held by the goalkeeper at full stretch.  Ledgister came on for McDonald late in the game and it looked as though Canvey were a spent force, but Carshalton survived a late scare when substitute Ellis Skidmore grazed the bar with a close range header.

A good win and a positive start to the season on and off the field for the Robins and their travelling supporters.  

      

Carshalton team; Nick Hamann , Michael Kamara, Ricardo Joseph, Craig Tanner, David Ray, Justyn Roberts, Billy Crook, Francis Quarm (Tom Davis), Paul Vines, Dean McDonald (Joel Ledgister), Dean Lodge

Subs not used; Scott Chalmers-Stevens, Anthony Joseph

Match experience: a good ground with a good views, cover and a bit of atmosphere, although the home fans were quiet, especially in the second half. Decent singing by the Robs travelling support though, so 7 out of 10.

Total score for Canvey: 16 out of 30 - a working CIFC pen in the shop and we'd've had a good early pace setter.

Well, here we go again......

It's a lovely sunny Friday afternoon in August. England are 320-odd for 2 in the fourth test against India, Surrey are in the semi-finals of the CB40 and another summer is drawing slowly to a close. One sure sign of the approach of autumn is the start of the football season. Chelsea have installed this year's manager, Wegner is promising that this will be Arsenal's year (again) and Man City have signed three thousand blokes I've never heard of.

Meanwhile, down at the War Memorial the soap opera that is Carshalton Athletic FC continues with ever-more outlandish plot lines.

The story so far...... (wavy lines, wavy lines, wavy lines) ......... owner Paul Dipre sacked manager Mark Butler in the spring, citing poor performance of the team. Having run through one manager per season since taking over the club in 2008 Paul appointed himself boss and then over the summer made some impressive signings including Dean McDonald, Craig Tanner, Scott Chalmers-Stevens, Billy Crook, Francis Quarm, Dean Lodge, Paul Vines and Laurent Hamici. A mixed bag of pre-season friendlies followed but the recent capture of Tom Davis from Sutton may be significant as a midfield enforcer was clearly lacking.

So far so good. However, in the background a row with supporters has resulted in 10 of them being banned and the start of a campaign which seems to be affecting attendances including sub-250 crowds for games against league one Charlton Athletic and local rivals Sutton.

The ten are accused of swearing and singing offensive songs in the games that followed Mark Butler's sacking and on one occasion bringing alcohol onto the terraces. However, not all those banned sang and swore and not all those that sang and swore have been banned. 

Personally, I disagreed with the way they went about protesting Mark's sacking and some of those I have spoken to agree that their behaviour was wrong. 

There are currently moves afoot to bring the sides together and I hope that common sense prevails and those that want to return to the terraces at Colston Avenue are allowed to do so.

I have relinquished my roles as programme editor and PR officer, largely because of the poor atmosphere at the club and I know I'm not the only volunteer to take such a view. Many of the regular supporters will not attend home games until the bans are lifted. 

Paul Dipre has done amazing things at Carshalton Athletic. For example there are now 34 junior teams, a thriving academy and a growing women's section; the ground is looking its best for years and the business is being run as a business. The first team really needs to take the same leap. Hopefully I'll be at home games to watch it happen.

Season's End

I’ve hardly caught my breath after the finest game of football I’ve seen this year and probably the best game in Surrey since Barrow Hedges Primary School demolished bitter local rivals Stanley Park in 1977, a certain S. Fuller scoring both goals.

Saturday's game saw Leatherhead beat Dulwich Hamlet 4-3 in the Ryman One South play-off final after extra time. There was plenty of interest for Carshalton fans; ex-players on show included Lewis Gonsalves, Chippy Carpenter, Junior Kadi, Jack MacLeod and Gary Drewett (who scored twice); in the crowd were ex-managers Hayden Bird and Dave Garland as well as present dof/owner/manager Paul Dipre.

Dulwich will be gutted having been 3-1 up with minutes to play but once Drewett had been substituted Hamlet never looked like scoring and the Tanners rode the momentum into the Premier. Congratulations to both sides for putting on such a good show; the Zyklusgruppen are happy as the ride to Leatherhead is infinitely more pleasant compared to the slog through south London to "Champion" Hill.

Anyway, onto Robins business. This blog was originally conceived several months ago primarily as a vehicle for Peter Randall’s excellent match reports but I also wanted to be able to maintain the stats for the season that I know many Robins followers like to see.

49 players made an appearance for the first team in 2010-11 and special mention should be made to Craig Ross for his ever-present record this season.

Top of the goal scoring charts was Bryon Harrison with 14 in all competitions, remarkable since he left in January, but in second place was Joel Ledgister who also led the league goals table with 11 goals. No other Carshalton player got near double-figures. I've also included stats for assists (basically a subjective view but one based on a pass / cross / dribble / pointless hump forward that somehow ends with a goal), and it's no surprise to see Chris Henry and Joel Ledgister top of that category, followed by the Genius himself, Tommy Williams.

Finally, the Robins’ Repository player of the season award goes to Craig Ross for being the last player left in the bar after the last home game. Good effort fella!

Have a good summer and look back here for occasional close-season musings.

Player	10-11 League Appearances (playing sub) {non-playing}	10-11 Cup Appearances (playing sub) {non-playing}	10-11 Total Appearances (playing sub) {non-playing}	10-11 League Goals	10-11 Total Goals	10-11 Total Assists	Career Appearances (includes playing sub)
Craig Ross	42	12	54				54
David Ray	41	11	52	3	3		92
Michael Boateng	38(1)	11	49(1)	1	1	5	50
Justyn Roberts	37{2}	11	48{2}	1	3	1	82
Joel Ledgister	32(3){1}	8{2}	40(3){3}	11	13	11	43
Luke Pigden	28(5){3}	8(2){1}	35(7){5}	3	5	6	43
Dan Young	28(1){6}	3(1)	31(2){6}				33
Tommy Williams	22(4){11}	4(1){1}	26(5){12}			7	64
Anthony Joseph	18(11){2}	6(5)	24(16){2}		2	5	39
Ricardo Joseph	15{6}	3{1}	18{7}	1	1	2	27
Barry Stevens	10(7){1}	2	12(7){1}			1	132
David Obaze	3(4){8}	6(1){1}	9(5){9}	1	1		14
Dwayne Williams	5(1){11}	(2)	5(3){11}				8
Tashan Francis-Adeyinka	5(1)		5(1)				6
Adrian Toppin	4(3)		4(3)				89
Rob Kember	4(1){1}		4(1){1}				5
Jake Hill	3{1}	1{1}	4{2}				4
Sonny Ayres	1(3){2}	2(1){1}	3(4){3}	3	3		7
Paris Hamilton-Downs	2(1){1}	1(1)	3(2){1}				5
Darren Bryan	2(5){1}	(1)	2(6){1}				8
Matt Reece	2(2)		2(2)	1	1		4
Sean O’Toole	2(1){1}		2{1}			1	3
Jimmy Hearne	(1)	1{1}	1(1){1}				4
George Beaver		1	1				1
Josh Graham-Turner	{3}	(1)	(1){3}				1
Hakeem Adelakun	(1){1}		(1){1}				1
Nial Akata	{5}		{5}				0
Luke Badiali	{2}	{2}	{4}				0
Jake Richards	{2}		{2}				0
Luke Foulsham		{1}	{1}				0
Ollie Hinckley		{1}	{1}				0
Jack Eden	{1}		{1}				0
Sam Sneed	{1}		{1}				0
George Landais	{1}		{1}				0
OG				1	1
Chris Henry	29(1){2}	10(1)	39(2){2}	3	5	13	41
Guy Hollis	15(1){6}	4(1)	19(2){6}			1	21
Carl Wilson-Dennis	9(3){2}	1	10(3){2}	1	2	2	31
Paul Johnson	23(3){4}	8(1){2}	31(4){6}	6	6	6	35
Adam Mekki	1		1				1
Gary Noel	10(5)	2(2)	12(7)	4	8	4	19
Byron Harrison	18{1}	7{1}	25{2}	7	14	5	36
Mbive Lokando	4(3){2}	4{3}	8(3){5}	1	1	2	11
Karl Murray	4(1)	(1)	4(1)				42
Rishi Nankani	1(2){2}	{1}	1(2){3}				3
Gavin Smith	(1)		(1)				1
Liam Stone	{5}	{2}	{7}				0
Brett Cooper	1(1){7}	1{6}	2(1){13}				3
Lloyd Blackman	2(6){3}	3(3){3}	5(9){6}		1		14
James Duncan	2(1){2}	2{5}	4(1){6}	1	1		5
Totals	42	12	54	49	72