Carshalton Promoted to Bostik Premier league after beating Whyteleafe 4-3
Not many sides in the history of football in any division anywhere worldwide have achieved what Carshalton have done since December 2017. From 33 points they have gained 31 and are unbeaten on this phenomenal run that saw them get promoted to the Bostik Premier league. Not that Carshalton made it easy on themselves. The scoreline will show a 4-3 victory in front of a seasons best crowd of just under 600.
Before the game whatever happened in games elsewhere all Carshalton had to do was to win the game. A simple equation. Starting the game however was the first obstacle as the referee was delayed on a flight back from Albania, that gave Carshalton the advantage of knowing their opponents results essentially at half time. In reality Whyteleafe gave them a tough game and were physical, maybe overly so , opponents that never actually lost the game until the 95th minute. On a hot afternoon physical fitness was going to be important and Carshalton certainly had the superiority on Whyteleafe on that.
Charlie Pattison caused problems all game on the right wing with his running and crossing
The Whyteleafe goal led a charmed life at times
The game however took a circuitous route with Whyteleafe taking the lead and Carshalton missing a penalty, then after making it 1-1, allowed Whyteleafe to score twice in minutes, making it 1-3 before staging a comeback to win the game 4-3 with the last meaningful kick of the game.
Tommy Bradford wins the game in the 95th minute
There are plenty of other detailed reports but from my perspective Carshalton played great football with measured passing, sometimes of a far higher standard. Finishing was superb, and with a little more luck could have won this game 7-3.
The end product was promotion and to the 600 crowd thats all that mattered.
None are playing in the premiership ( although Foresaw was last year), 7 play in the championship and the ten remaining are scattered in the lower leagues and non-league. Brentford can be regarded as to top 10 championship side, whereas Hartlepool have the please of their first season in non-league to contemplate, three divisions below Brentford. Looking through the programme none of that current Brentford U-18 team playing that week seem to have made careers in football. However a quick glimpse through the U-21 team that week shows Alfie Mawson, Jake Reeves, Josh Clarke who have all had excellent league careers. We had a sporting director called Mark Warburton who made some salient points in his programme notes. He talked a lot not only about the quality of a player and what is needed for the club, but also knowledge of their off-field character. Mark Devlin writes an eloquent piece about what needs to be done in the years leading up to Lionel road in 2016. 
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 