A real "game of two halves". Hamlet made a terrific start with two goals in the first 12 minutes and might have been further ahead before Constable pulled off an unbelievable save on the stroke of half time to keep it 2-0 at the break. Second half was a different story with Carshalton, unsurprisingly with Peter Adeniyi in charge, playing attractive football and having the few real chances. Although it only took them five minutes to halve the arrears, and they were subsequently awarded a penalty, we fought hard to hold out for the win.
It was a lovely team goal in the third minute that gave us the lead. A long crossfield pass released Wanadio on the right, he got crowded out befroe he could cross the ball but passed it back to Braham-Barratt, pushing up in support. Maybe Carshalton were caught unawares so early in the game by a left footed full back playing on the right, as he shaped inside and curled a high diagonal cross beyond the far post for Mills to head down for Scott, who trapped and converted with aplomb from the edge of the six yard box. Nine minutes later the lead was doubled from a corner that was only cleared as far as the edge of the box, where Krasniqi fired a first time shot into the net between a gap in the pack of players ahead of him. Although the visitors had a fair amount of the play it was Hamlet creating all the real scoring chances. We were within a whisker of a third goal with a similar combination to the opening goal, as Mills again headed down from beyond the far post for Scott, but this time the midfielder's volley smashed against the inside of the post and rebounded across the goal to safety. Almost immediately Carshalton were attacking us at the other end with a peach of a cross from the right flighted perfectly for centre forward Babajide, but his thumping header was somehow diverted over the bar by the long arm of Constable.
We'd barely had a chance to settle after the break when Carshalton scored from a similar chance to our second goal. A corner cleared to the edge of the box was volleyed straight back into the bottom corner by veteran forward Marshall, lurking on the 18 yard line. The remainder of the game was largely a rearguard action from the Hamlet. We'd lost some of our midfield momentum after Scott had been forced off at half time following a knock late in the opening half, then with less than 20 minutes to go Ricketts was penalised for an attempted clearance inside the box when an opponent darted into his path just as he swung his leg at the ball. Thankfully Constable was equal to the task and held a poor kick low to his left. Despite the spectre of yet more points being dropped from a game in which we'd taken the early initiative, I felt we saw out the game reasonably well in the end.