Lee Carey's free kick.

United hit rock bottom

Hastings United 1-4 Carshalton Athletic

April 18th 2013

Harrogate was special. Middlesbrough was special. But against Carshalton was United’s biggest game of the season. United, in 21st place with 35 points hosted against 22nd place Carshalton with 34 points. Many people were saying that this is ‘Do or Die’ for United. The tension prior to kick-off was palpable. HOT’s Liam Willis reports.

United got off to a dreadful start – Pigden burst down the right hand side and into the penalty area and drilled past East into the bottom corner to give Carshalton a third-minute lead. Hastings 0-1 Carshalton – 3 minutes. United’s slow start continued with Carshalton seeing the majority of the ball.

However it didn’t take the U’s much longer to find their feet. A spell of pressure saw them win a corner, which was defended but headed straight into the path of on-form Jack Dixon, who struck the ball from the ‘D’ straight into the bottom left corner after 11 minutes. Hastings 1-1 Carshalton.

This gave United a lift,  now seeing the majority of the ball, but both sides fighting hard for possession when they lost it. Dixon had a chance, Lee Carey had a free-kick that was saved well and then Carshalton came very close to taking the lead from a corner. Another free-kick from Carey found the head of Sean Ray which forced Hamann to pull-off an incredible reflex save to keep the scores level. Both sides however, continued to have chances but neither made anything significant to headline the show. Two minutes of added time at the end of the first half produced nothing and at the halfway stage, it was United 1-1 Carshalton.

United corner

United seemed to take their foot off the pedal at this point but they still made a tactical change. United went into a more attacking role with Zac Attwood replacing Jamie Crellin. For the best part of five minutes, United kept possession and Jack Dixon made a blistering run down the right hand side and put a ball in to Attwood, who won a corner which was then wasted.

United’s night worse went from bad to worse after conceding a third, but when Carshalton scored a fourth, United’s night became a frightful nightmare. Bradford went through on goal with only East to beat only for Sean Ray to chop him down for a clear penalty. Some say that Ray was lucky to see yellow. Pinney converted the penalty, sending East the wrong way and giving Carshalton an unassailable lead. Hastings 1-4 Carshalton, after 82 minutes.

In the remaining time the United side did little effort  to get back into the game. Ellis had a weak shot which was comfortably saved by Hamann. Hastings did, however, continue to see plenty of the ball, but converted nothing in their favour and, time and again, gave the ball away cheaply. Dee Okojie replaced N’Diaye with minimal time remaining. The last significant chance of the game saw Pigden go inches wide with a free-kick. The referee blew for full-time and put an end to United’s misery. Hastings 1-4 Carshalton.

Carshalton’s win fired them out of the relegation zone, going two points ahead of United and a point ahead of fellow-Sussex strugglers Lewes. The result saw United drop to 22nd in the Ryman League table, two points from safety.

United: East, Cox, Murphy, Carey (c), Ray, Richardson, Ellis, Crellin, Adams, N’Diaye, Dixon.
Subs: Judge, Attwood, Vickers, Warren, Okojie.

Carshalton: Hamann (c), Goodman, O’Toole, Sogbanmu, Joseph, Roberts, Pigden, Ashton, Pinney, Bradford, Adelakun.
Subs: Murphy-McVey, Gomez Pico, Males, Nolan, Dudzinski.

Man of the Match, as nominated for by Liam Willis: Jack Dixon.
Attendance: 480.

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