We found ourselves in a unique situation with both goalkeepers being from our squad, as Faebian Witter played for Carshalton. We rested several players, fielding a side different from Saturday’s match. Against a team two leagues higher, it was the Salts who started stronger, creating several early chances.

Carshalton took the lead in the 21st minute after an unlucky deflection; we had seemingly stopped the attack, but the ball fell to their forward, Kwaku Frimpong who slotted it in. Their second goal came in the 28th minute, when our keeper Dan O’Donovan, initially made a good save after coming out to challenge. Unfortunately, the loose ball again went to Frimpong, who lobbed three players from just outside the box. Carshalton’s two-goal scorer then picked up his second yellow card, reducing them to ten men. Just two minutes later, in the 43rd minute, striker Carl Oblitey found the net to bring the Salts back into the game. It remained 1-2 at halftime.

In the second half, we pressed forward and created some promising chances, but Carshalton held firm. We made three substitutions, with Callum Wilson, Jason Bloor, and Amiaran Subramaniam coming on for Niall Stillwell, Luke Miller, and Sean Michael Anderson. In the last minute, skipper Adam Green was harshly shown a red card. The game ended in a narrow defeat against our higher-ranked opponents.