FA Trophy Second Round Qualifying – September 23, 2023

Carlton Town’s Wembley dreams remain alive after a 2-1 win against Chasetown in the FA Trophy.

First half goals from Niall Davie and Khyle Sargent were enough to earn the Millers victory in this second round qualifying tie, and although the Scholars pulled a goal back through substitute Ryan Nesbitt, they were unable to fashion an equaliser that would have taken the tie to penalties.  That they left Stoke Lane with nothing was primarily down to an outstanding defensive performance with goalkeeper Felix Annan making a number of vital saves.

It was also down to some wasteful finishing by the visitors and a little bit of fortune for the home side with the Scholars twice hitting the woodwork in the first half. But ultimately, Carlton have become very hard to beat this season and they demonstrated exactly what that is in this performance.  Indeed the Millers themselves hit the post late on and should have extended their lead when Chasetown were chasing the game.

Carlton made one change to the side which had lost at Rushall Olympic in the FA Cup last time out with Davie coming in for Shea Thompson-Harris.  That meant David Adegbola started at right back.

The Millers got off to the perfect start and were ahead within four minutes.  Alex Hardwick ran onto a flicked header from Niall Hylton, outpaced the Scholars defence and went round goalkeeper Bradley Clarkson before being unceremoniously upended by the keeper.  Davie stepped up to take the penalty and made no mistake with the spot kick.

Two minutes later Davie should have doubled the Millers’ lead when Dean Freeman flicked on a Lewis Durow throw, but the club captain missed the ball at the far post with the goal at his mercy.

Chasetown responded and Daniel O’Callaghan hit the outside of the post with a fierce drive on 10 minutes, before Jack Langston fired high over the bar from close range with his third attempt after the first two shots were blocked.

Chasetown were by this stage clearly on top and pinning Carlton back in their own half.  O’Callaghan really should have equalised on 24 minutes when Annan couldn’t hold onto a powerful Marvellous Onabirekhanlon shot but the Chasetown captain lifted the rebound over the bar.

Jordan Evans then played a fine cross-field ball to Luke Yates.  He cut inside and hit a shot low to the corner which drew a superb save from Annan.

Against the run of play Carlton doubled their lead moments later.  Annan cleared to Hylton who did really well to control the ball and run directly at the Scholars defence.  He earned a corner which was delivered by Greg Tempest onto the head of the unmarked Sargent who powered a header past Clarkson.

Chasetown carried on attacking and Samuel Wilding saw a shot blocked while Durow did well to tackle Ben Lund in a dangerous position.  All of the defence were working overtime, as indeed were the midfield in trying to keep Chasetown away from the Carlton goal,  but Dean Freeman in particular was having an excellent game, keeping the Scholars at bay.  But none of the defence could do anything when Lund lifted an audacious 30 yard lob over the head of Annan only for the ball to strike the crossbar and drop behind the goal.

The game was far more even in the second period with Chasetown struggling to create the kind of chances they had in the first half and Carlton looking like they might even add to their tally.  The closest the visitors came to scoring prior to their goal were two free kicks from Nesbitt and Langston, both of which drew good saves from Annan.

The visitors did manage to score on 77 minutes with a well worked goal.  Langston played the ball deep into the left wing position from the half way line.  Evans did really well to keep the ball in play before teeing up John Atherton whose cross was met with a powerful header from Nesbitt to give Annan no chance.

As Chasetown pushed forward for a leveller, Carlton exploited gaps at the back and really should have scored again.  Substitute Romello Nangle won the ball on the half way line and darted forward before hitting a shot which Evans deflected onto the post.

Moments later fellow substitute Lamin Manneh played Nangle into a glorious position but his shot was well saved by Clarkson.  Manneh himself almost scored from a Tempest free kick but Clarkson saved again, before Hardwick was hauled to the ground by Luke McGinnell when he looked to be about to go through on goal.

With the game deep into six added minutes Nesbitt sent Atherton away on the left.  Sargent, playing at right back following the substitution of Adegbola, brought him down on the edge of the box and could have no real complaints about the “last-man” red card that followed.  Langston’s free kick looped up off the wall and fell to Atherton whose close range pile-driver brought a fantastic save from Annan.

The ten-man Millers saw out the final moments of the game to move into the third round qualifying.  They had certainly earned the applause that greeted them at the final whistle from the relieved home support.

Carlton Town: F Annan, D Adegbola (M Ford 70), L Durow, D Brown, D Freeman, G Tempest, N Davie (L Manneh 63), K Sargent, A Hardwick, A Howes, N Hylton (R Nangle 75). Unused subs: N Liburd-Hines, Z Hill, S Thompson-Harris, L Bateman

Goals: N Davie 4 pen, K Sargent 28; Ryan Nesbitt 77

Carlton Town Supporters Club MOTM: Khyle Sargent

Att: 128