Carlton Town took a huge step towards securing Evo-Stik league football next season with a comprehensive 3-0 win at Tividale writes Chris Bailey from Carlton Town Fans website.
The win, Carlton’s second in a week against fellow relegation candidates, saw the Millers rise one place to 18th in the table and maintain the seven point gap to the drop zone. It also meant that Daventry Town have now been dragged into the scrap to stay up as the season nears its conclusion.
Carlton made a bright start with Romello Nangle putting Niall Davie through on the right wing, he then cut in and fired his shot past the left hand post.
On the 14th minute Carlton took the lead with a neat move. Kevin Lusamba’s ball put Nangle through in on goal and the striker rounded the keeper and put the ball in the net past two retreating Tividale defenders.
Two minutes later, Danny Gordon’s shot was saved by the Tividale keeper Tom Turner.
Carlton continued to push forward with Anthony Howell firing in a long range shot. Gordon was then booked for a second tackle.
Tividale attacks were well-marshalled by the Carlton defence for whom Daniel Fletcher was outstanding. However, there was a moment of concern when Kameron Campbell’s mis-header led to Romaine Graham and Matthew Jukes tussling for the ball inside the Carlton area and both ended up on the floor which lead to appeals from Tividale players for a penalty which were dismissed by referee John Roskelly.
Tividale’s most dangerous player on the day, Jukes, then had a chance to level but only managed to fire his shot into the side netting.
Nangle became the second Carlton player to go into referee Roskelly’s book for what appeared to be an over the top tackle on Tividale’s Jacob Barnes.
The half ended with Carlton pressing forward, with Davie’s mazy run ending with a shot being saved by Turner.
The second half was only five minutes old when Carlton doubled their lead. Tividale conceded a free kick on the corner of their penalty area and Carlton’s free kick specialist Danny Gordon fired a fierce strike between the goalkeeper and the near post.
A third goal followed five minutes after that when a shot by Lusamba shot was handled by Tividale’s left back Scott Devlin and Danny Gordon stepped up to score from the resulting penalty.
The Millers then fashioned another chance when the ball was neatly moved down the left wing with interplay between Lusamba and Matthew Newton which resulted with Gordon shooting wide.
Tividale came close in the last 10 minutes of the match, firstly when a Jukes header came back off a combination of the crossbar and post and then when a Howell slip gave the ball to Craig Stevens who shot over the Carlton bar.
Carlton had one last chance when Howell found Kevin Lusamba whose cross was met by Newton but Turner was equal to his effort.
Tividale looked stranded at the bottom of the table but Wayne Scott’s side have given themselves a real opportunity to secure safety over the next couple of weeks.
Carlton Town: Steggles, Campbell, Fletcher, Walker, Graham, Newton, Davie, Howell, Nangle, Lusamba, Gordon. Substitutes: Rae, Sturgess, Dwyer, Keane. Substitutions TBA.
Goals: Nangle 14, Gordon 49, 52 (pen)
Carlton Town Supporters Club MOTM – Daniel Fletcher
Attendance: 67
