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.