Carshalton Village failed to take all three points against ten-man Ironside as the sides played out a 2-2 draw. Ironside had taken an early lead before Village levelled thanks to an own goal. Toby Meller's first of the season meant that Village held the advantage going into the second half, but Ironside fought back to equalise and force the draw.
Managers Chas and Dave (Stephen Sharp and Matheu Sullivan) shuffled their pack with the highly impressive Baker replacing "one goal" Simon Heffernan prior to his potential loan move to Everton, whilst James Bennett, Simon Heffernan, Mehdi Chakibi and James Barnham returned to the starting eleven.
Village started brightly with much of the ball against their ten-man opponents when a build up of possession saw a pot shot from Chakibi go narrowly wide.
Chaikibi soon after could have put the away side one up following a jinking run but his tame effort was cleared by a defender when a pass may have been a better option.
At the other end, a horrible clash saw Rich Wilsher hit the floor and unable to continue, before rumours went around saying maybe the enigmatic Wilsher may have had some sense knocked into him, but his full recovery several minutes later put pay to that sadly.
A long through ball by Ironside led to their mountain of a striker running through and putting the ball past Baker at his near post to take a surprising lead, but any rumour of a possible assist by "jealous" keeper Heffernan were quickly played down......
Village needed this goal to get going and it wasn’t long before a quick Village double put the boys in front.
First a bundled own goal and then a great Toby Meller finish helped him towards his pre season target of 20 goals for the season… that was was his his first of the season.
The lead could have increased from Adam Meller’s bullet volley from outside the box that smashed the bar… it was a great strike but as it wasn’t a goal, it will most likely fade into obscurity.
In the second half the Village players spoke a lot about discipline and keeping things simple but were guilty of giving away too many set pieces and wasting too many great chances to kill the game, as Gill, Harrison and Bennett all saw long range efforts go over the bar or wide.
A cross field ball on the counter attack saw Barnham hold up the forward of Ironside well, but a quick jink saw the front man make a yard of space and delicately chipped Baker for a well deserved equaliser.
Village struggled to close out the game, which also involved a horrible accidental headbutt from Paul Jenner that nearly killed Toby Meller before he reached his landmark 20 goals.
Village defended stoutly and needed a last gasp Rolfe header from a corner to prevent a late winner from Ironside and when the final whistle blew a draw seemed to be a fair result despite the Village crowd (Sean Heffernan) feeling that Village could have got more.
Village will be incredibly frustrated by the result but the team have created momentum to gain points from poor situations and their continuing of an unbeaten run is something that will be difficult to stop coming into next week’s match with Kudos.
