Thamesmead Town 2 Carshalton Athletic 4
By Mead reporter Kevin White
Goals from Rikki Cable and Richard Dimmock were not enough as Mead are out of the FA Cup after a closely fought contest containing more than it’s share of controversial dicisions.
Cable opened the scoring with the first shot of the game on 11 minutes striking the ball round a defender and past Carshalton keeper, Howe after great work from Dimmock on the edge of the box to get the ball through.
Five minutes later Cable should have made it 2-0 after he managed to create himself a one-on-one opportunity with Howe. Cable tried to place his effort goalwards but only managed steer his shot in to the Carshalton keeper.
Fontana then grabbed the equalliser for Carshalton after a quick break down the left found the Mead defence flat at the back, for the ball to be played across the edge of the area for Fontana to fire a looping belter, dipping under the bar in to the back of the net.
Disaster struck on 19 minutes, as a Lou Watts own goal gave Carsalton the lead despite a forward pass that saw a Carshalton forward looking to be obviously offside by a long way.
Only five minutes later Carshalton made it three when Fontana struck from close range after Rob Tarrent failed to clear from defence.
Controversy reared its head again on 26 minutes when Richard Dimmock was bundled over in the Carsalton area, only for he referee to wave play on.
Carshalton seemed happy to defend and Thamesmead were looking sharp from the start of the second half, once again playing some good passing football and hungry for goals.
On the 55th minute, Rikki Cables strike from the edge of the area deflected off a defender and in to the path of Dimmock who smashed the ball home from just outside the six yard box.
Mead dominated possession with Mulholland hitting the frame of the goal with a long range effort and Rob Tarrent having an effort on goal cleared off the line late on.
With just a minute to go, Mead were still pusing for an equaliser. However, this wasn’t to be when Dimock was once again hauled to the ground only for the referee to again refuse to peanalise what seemed to be obvious foul play. With Thamesmead insenced with injustice and the ineptitude of a referee who appeared never to be in full control of the game, Carshalton broke upfield to settle the tie with a fourth goal, Fontana scoring his hatrick. The following protests lead to Dimmock, who seemed hard done by the referee all match, being shown the red card for dissent.
A disappointing defeat after Thamesmead controled much of the game, the Mead now face more cup competition this comming Wednesday, away to Lewisham Borough in the London Senior Cup.
Line-up: Kemp, Watts, Tarrent, Brown, Coburn, Gallagher (Charm), Mulholland, Knight, Dimmock, Cable, Williams. Subs not used: Chapman, Masabe, Dawson, Woodwood.