Carshalton Athletic recorded their second win in four days with a 1-0 victory over struggling Leatherhead on Tuesday night, writes James Barrett.

Midfielder Luke Pigden hit the winner five minutes before half-time which, coupled with a rare clean sheet, has allowed The Robins to move up to 40 points and boost their chances of finishing in at least a top 10 league position.

“After a worrying first 20 minutes, despite some good passages of play, we looked second best and switching to a flat midfield four made it more comfortable for us,” said boss Paul Dipre after the game.

“We really should have wrapped up the points in the second half, but couldn’t find a good enough final ball on too many occasions.

“However, I felt there were a lot of good performances and we thoroughly deserved the win. I was especially pleased for Anthony Joseph who has been working hard to get back in the side – he was superb tonight."

Tony Finn was drafted in into the starting eleven and deployed just behind the front two of Paul Vines and Laurent Hamici. However he sustained an injury following a tackle from Leatherhead’s Tommy Hutchings and had to be replaced by Joseph.

“Tony Finn will be out for at least two weeks and Justyn Roberts is now suspended for three games, so we will have a challenging couple of weeks ahead now,” added Dipre.

Both sides had early chances to take the lead, but both Tom Davis for Carshalton and Vernon Francis for Leatherhead were thwarted by acrobatic goalkeeping.

The breakthrough came five minutes before the break when Luke Nolan collected a pass and burst into the box. He was pressured by the home defence, but laid the ball out to Laurent Hamici whose cross was met by the head of Luke Pigden two yards out.

Carshalton had a few decent chances to extend their lead in the second half, but either poor finishing or good goalkeeping thwarted their efforts. Leatherhead had a couple of half chances towards the end of the game, but The Robins defence held firm to claim the win.