Report by JONATHAN HAND
A goal from Nat Watson was a mere consolation as Carlton Town went down 3-1 at Garforth Town.
As bad omens go – crashing the coach before you’ve left for the match is probably up there with the best or worst of them. Carlton’s match day coach was involved in a minor collision with a very expensive looking range rover as the driver reversed into the Millers Barn car park to collect the players on Bank Holiday Monday. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the rest of the sixty-eight-mile journey up to Yorkshire passed without further incident.
Carlton went into the game on the back of a thumping 5-1 home win on Saturday against Bishop Auckland while Garforth were boasting an unbeaten start to their league season. Tommy Brookbanks and Mark Harvey made one change to the team that thrashed the Bishops with Alex Howes replacing Niall Hylton who was unavailable. The ever-popular Greg Tempest made an unexpected return to the match day squad, much to the delight of the Millers Faithful.
This was Carlton’s first trip to Garforth since Dean Gent’s last gasp winner on the final day of the season secured promotion to step 4 back in 2007. But the second bad omen of the day came within a minute of kick off when the versatile Khyle Sargent limped off with a hamstring strain following an innocuous challenge. Jonny Gilbert was the early replacement.
Carlton probably had the better of the early exchanges and had a decent chance when Lamin Manneh poked the ball through for Jack Newall but the covering defender did well to clear the ball for a corner as the on-loan striker bared down on goal. Unfortunately, no one could get on the end of Manneh’s dangerous delivery from the resultant corner.
As the first half progressed it became apparent that Garforth’s game plan was to get the ball out wide left whenever possible to Mo Fadera and both Dean Freeman and Michael Ford were booked in close succession for fouls on the tricky winger.
The home side took the lead in the 20th minute in fortuitous circumstances. An attempted clearance by Lewis Durow struck the midriff of an opposition player and fell perfectly for Charlie Marshall who tucked his goal away confidently despite the best efforts of the on-rushing Felix Annan. While the Millers may have felt unfortunate to find themselves a goal behind at that point in the game they probably went in at half-time glad that they were only one nil down. The home side were clearly buoyed to have taken the lead and could have scored more had it not been for a number of decent defensive blocks by the Carlton Town rearguard.
Carlton found themselves 2-0 down soon after the restart and predictably Fadera was at the heart of things. The youngster picked the ball up on the wide left and produced a pinpoint ball into the centre of the Millers box for Marshall to tuck away his second goal of the day.
Carlton continued to work hard but struggled to create any chances of note with stray passing being a theme of the day.
The home side extended their lead on the 75th minute when another excellent delivery from Fadera found substitute James Burgess on the edge of the box. The striker took a touch before placing the ball into the bottom right-hand post just out of reach of Annan.
Carlton pulled a goal back almost immediately when a long throw into the box by Durow was flicked on by Freeman. Watson scored with the outside of his boot when a Garforth defender failed to make contact with an attempted clearance. Unfortunately, hopes of a dramatic comeback were all but dashed moments later when Lewis Durow was deservedly red carded for wildly kicking out at Garforth substitute Rinor Ejupi. While the left back was clearly aggrieved that the referee failed to spot that he had been struck by a stray elbow from the opposition player there is absolutely no excuse for his impetuous behaviour.
Carlton’s 10 men did manage to create another great chance in injury time when substitute Zac Hill put Newall through one on one with the keeper. However, the young striker’s effort struck the outside of the post before going safely behind.
If this is to be the last time that the Carlton fans get the opportunity to watch Newall representing the Millers all involved with the club would want to thank him for his efforts over the last four weeks. His three goals in four starts have been invaluable and he looks like a natural goal scorer. Jack is a lovely lad from a lovely family and if he does return to Burton Albion, I’m sure that the Carlton faithful will be keeping a close eye on his career as he makes his way through the football world.
In truth Carlton were well beaten on the day having struggled to deal with the pace, trickery and delivery of Fadera. It therefore came as a surprise to no one that the recipient of the Garforth Town sponsor’s man of the match award was the left back. The Millers will be looking to bounce back on Saturday when they host Stamford in the FA Cup at Stoke Lane.
Carlton Town: F Annan, M Ford (S Thompson-Harris 52), L Durow, D Brown, D Freeman, K Sargent (J Gilbert 4 (L Marfo 60)), N Davie (G Tempest 59), N Watson, J Newall, A Howes (Z Hill 70), L Manneh.
Goals: Nat Watson 77; Charlie Marshall 20, 50, James Burgess 75
Carlton Town Supporters Club MOM – Nat Watson
Attendance: 321
