Graves stars to keep Robins in title hunt

This latest meeting between the two local rivals, their first competitive game since 2003, turned out to be great entertainment with the final outcome never quite certain until the final whistle. For all the Robins' dominance of the first period, the best scoring chances fell to the home team, but Carshalton were rampant for the first part of the second half and only some wayward finishing allowed Tooting to stay in the game.

A late Tooting goal reduced the arrears and set off a few flutters for the Robins fans but, thanks largely to an outstanding display by David Graves at the heart of the defence, with able assistance from Matt York, Carshalton safely weathered some late turbulence to claim three more deserved points to keep them well in touch with the early league leaders.

The Robins impressed in the early stages with their passing and movement, but the first clear chance was Tooting’s when a through pass was deflected into the path of Jamie Byatt. His quick pass found Martin Grant with only the formality of putting the ball into the net but the pace was taken off his shot by keeper Searle giving York the chance to clear off the line.

Grant came close again taking advantage of a poor pass to try his luck with a lobbed shot that went just wide, before the Robins responded with long range efforts by Collins, choosing the chipped shot in preference to taking the ball on, and inevitably Richrd Jolly whose effort was pushed away by Dave King. Spurred on by this, Jolly again tested King after cutting in form the left and a good run by Cooper was halted at the expense of a corner.

Tooting’s Paul Vines should have done much better with a long free-kick from the left that he managed to head down rather than goalwards, but late in the half Carshalton began to get on top as Jolly’s header from a Stevens cross was held by King just under the bar. A break late in the half with the Robins streaming forward was only stopped by a cynical body check by Joe Vines for which he was rightly cautioned.

Nic Plummain started the second half in place of the injured Cooper and made an early impression when a burst forward was stopped illegally by a tackle from behind by Vines as he approached the edge of the area. Quite how Vines was allowed to stay on the pitch remains a mystery, but Tooting were still made to pay a heavy price when Kadi’s teasing free-kick was only partly cleared. Dwain Clarke and Barry Stevens both followed up with shots just inside the area, before the ball dropped for Richard Jolly to drive home. Barry Stevens, despite having a quieter game than of late, was also instrumental in the second goal. Picking up possession on the right he took the ball to the bye-line, checked, and then played a pass to the feet of Junior Kadi, who had the simple job of driving the ball under King for the Robins' second. Stevens left soon after, having picked up a groin strain, to be replaced by Paul Honey with Collins moving out wide. For a while Carshalton were in total control with Carpenter, Clarke and Jolly all coming close to scoring, and only some outstanding defensive work by Aaron Goode kept Tooting in contact. Leigh Bremner came on to replace Kadi and was soon in the thick of the action with his determined running and work rate. Billy Smith used all of his substitutes to try to revive his side’s fortunes and was rewarded when one of them, Craig Pitterson, turned in a low cross from close range with 10 minutes remaining. Tooting threw caution to the wind in search of what would have been a surprise equaliser, but the Robins preserved their lead with few further scares to send their supporters home happy.

Robins: Searle, Cooper (Plummain), Carpenter, Graves, York, Collins, Stevens (Honey), Evans, Kadi (Bremner), Jolly, Clarke

Subs not used: Gonsalves, Wilson