Carlton Town F.C vs Sheffield F.C

Carlton Town vs Sheffield FC

Carlton was aiming to make it back-to-back wins to start the season. However, they nearly fell behind after two minutes when Sheffield’s Luke Mangham flashed a ball across Carlton’s six-yard box, narrowly avoiding Luke Aldrich at the back post.

Sheffield continued their early dominance, creating a golden chance, when Rory Coleman’s corner floated to the back post, headed back across by Josh Burns, with the ball falling to Benni Novolu who volleyed his shot into the ground. But thankfully for Carlton, Lamin Manneh was able to clear the shot of the line.

The first half possessed very few chances for either team andthe two clubs struggled to maintain any control of the match.

However, just before half time, Carlton gained a good spell of possession and were rewarded. This was after a brilliant dispossession of the opposition and driving run from David Adegbola. Adegbola then whipped a cross, which struck the arm of the defender in the box and gave Carlton a penalty.

Khyle Sargent stepped up to take the penalty but was denied magnificently by Jordan Pierrepoint, diving to his bottom left corner. Sheffield FC number one was able to keep the scores level going into half time.

Both teams continued to battle for possession at the start of the second half. But Carlton was able to put a foot on the game after 63 minutes, with great play from Adegbola down Carlton’s right side. Adegbola’s neat footwork found him atthe byline on the right, but he was upended by the Sheffield defender right on the line of the 18-yard box. The referee gave Carlton another penalty.

This time Romello Nangle made no mistake by sending the keeper the wrong way, giving Carlton a 1-0 lead.

Carlton nearly doubled their lead quickly afterwards whenSheffield’s keeper came to collect a cross and misjudged the flight of the cross. The ball fell to Niall Hylton at the back post, but his shot was blocked of the line.

At 78 minutes, a brilliant, lofted corner by Niall Davie found Alex Howes at the back post, who volleyed into the keeper’sright hand bottom corner. This gave Carlton a deserved 2-0 lead.

The game ended with a sour note for Carlton, after Felix Annan was judged to have challenged substitute Marc Newsham unfairly and a last-minute penalty was given to Sheffield. Luke Mangham slotted the penalty away, sending the keeper the wrong way and making it 2-1. However,Carlton was able to hold on and make it two consecutive wins.