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Carshalton Athletic booked their place in Tuesday’s draw for the Emirates FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round with a 2-1 win over Westfield at Woking Park on Saturday.
Goals in each half from Aaron Smith-Joseph and Ollie Cook were enough to overcome their spirited lower league opponents.
From the first whistle, it was clear that Westfield were intent on making life as difficult as possible for a Robins side without Arthur Lee and Femi Akinwande after they both picked up injuries against Bognor in midweek.
Robins manager, Steve McKimm commented: “We didn’t play great today, but credit also to Westfield for that. The players showed good resilience though and we achieved what we set out to do which was to get through to the next round. The club, the staff, the players and the fans – we all want a cup run.”
A hotly contested first half hour saw little goalmouth action at either end. A Walter Figueira curler, a Gus Sow break and a Bradley Williams shot from inside the area that was deflected away for a corner were the first signs of Carshalton beginning to find their way through a packed midfield, before they took the lead with three minutes remaining in the half. Tommy Bradford laid the ball off to Aaron Smith-Joseph just inside the penalty area and his fierce shot flew past home keeper Sonny Wheeler into the net.
After the break though, it was Westfield who were initially in control. An early second half header from a deep cross bounced back off the Carshalton post. And as Westfield continued to press, they were rewarded with a penalty after Brad Pearce was penalised for holding Luke Elliott. Westfield’s leading scorer Nathaniel Mensah, who had scored for Guildford City in last season’s Surrey Senior Cup penalty shoot-out against the Robins, stepped up to confidently send Danny Bracken the wrong way.
Carshalton, however, found the perfect response just four minutes later. Williams returned a clearance into a danger area and Elliott’s misdirected header fell to Cook, who had been forward for the set piece, to sweep past Wheeler for his second goal in consecutive cup rounds and take the Robins into the next round hat.
Carshalton Athletic: Bracken, Lema, Mvemba, Pearce, Cook, Williams, Sow, Smith-Joseph, Bradford, Ekpiteta, Figueira.
Substitutes: Allen (for Smith-Joseph 76’), Hamblin (for Mvemba 82’), Bola (for Figueira 90’), Beere, Parker.
Westfield: Wheeler, Walsh, Mensah, Carter, Elliott, Sanchez, Oram, Crossley, Walters, Timothy, Mason.
Substitutes: Samuels (for Oram 45’), Breckon (for Timothy 67’), Rice (for Walters 81’), Glover, Debayo.
Scorers: Smith-Joseph 42’, Mensah (pen) 69’, Cook 73’.
UP NEXT
Following the postponement of Monday evening’s scheduled home game against Margate due to the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II, the Robins travel to the south coast once more on Saturday 24th September when they face newly promoted Hastings United (3pm kick off).
Tickets – https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Hastings/The-TGS-Pilot-Field/#eventslist (no prices available at time of writing)
Ground address: The TGS Pilot Field, Elphinstone Road, Hastings, TN34 2AX
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