Brentwood Town were beaten 2-0 by Carshalton Athletic in South London on Saturday, with a first-half penalty and second-half strike from Nathan Young-Coombes securing all three points for the hosts.
The Blues were reduced to ten men shortly after the interval when Max Hudson was shown a red card, and despite some excellent saves from Aiden Prall, Keith Rowland’s side were unable to find a way back into the contest.
Keith Rowland made three changes to the side that started last week’s match against Enfield Town, with Luke Read, Charlee Adams and Jesse Olukolu all returning to the Starting XI.
It was a fairly unspectacular opening 45 minutes, with neither side creating too much to get excited about. Carshalton’s Jack Jebb saw a free-kick from the edge of the box fizz over the crossbar, while Olukolu looked lively on the right wing for Brentwood, asking questions of the hosts’ defence.
Just before the break, however, the referee pointed to the penalty spot, with Andy Freeman adjudged to have handled the ball inside the area. Nathan Young-Coombes stepped up for the hosts and found the back of the net, despite Prall getting a hand to the ball.
Ten minutes after the interval, Brentwood’s afternoon went from bad to worse, with Hudson shown a straight red card to leave the Blues with ten men.
With Brentwood adjusting to life a man down, Benas Vaivada and Ben Steward were introduced from the bench, but it wasn’t long before The Robins doubled their advantage, with Young-Coombes grabbing his second of the afternoon. The Carshalton forward latched onto a clever through ball before calmly slotting the ball past Prall.
The Brentwood goalkeeper was called upon several times in the second half and produced a number of smart saves to keep the deficit at two. Tope Fadahunsi turned inside the Brentwood box and got a shot away, but Prall stood firm to deny him, before the shot-stopper was called into action again late on, producing a stunning fingertip save to tip a headed effort from former Blue Ethan Kaiser over the bar following a Carshalton corner.
The Blues, in truth, did well to keep the scoreline at 2-0 after playing the majority of the second half with ten men, but were unable to fashion any serious chances of their own or trouble Ben Dudzinski in the Robins’ goal.
Attention now turns to next weekend, when Brentwood Town travel to Concord Rangers in the Emirates FA Cup First Qualifying Round as Keith Rowland’s side look to return to winning ways.
Please note: Brentwood Town’s Bank Holiday Monday home fixture against Maldon & Tiptree has been postponed by the Isthmian League. All tickets purchased in advance through Fanbase have been refunded.
CARSHALTON ATHLETIC: Dudzinski (GK), Akyeampong (Yates 12′), Masampu (Jones 80′), Kaiser, Howard (Osbourne 12′), Young-Coombes (Okorogheye 74′), Ladapo, Saraiva (C) (Koroma 74′), Kandolo, Jebb, Fadahunsi
Subs not used: N/A
BRENTWOOD TOWN: Prall (GK), Read (Berry 67′), Davis, Gibbs (C), Hudson, Adams (Steward 60′), Freeman, Harvest, Olukolu (Vaivada 60′), Linton, Sach
Subs not used: Pollock, Sears
