Carshalton Athletic solidified their promotion charge on Saturday after winning a feisty encounter against bottom-of-the-table Wingate and Finchley, writes James Barrett-Sterling.

The visitors belied their lowly status to lead 1-0 at half-time last Saturday but Carshalton pulled their socks up to eventually run out 3-2 winners in a game containing two penalties and plenty of incident.

The three points helped the Robins climb up to fourth in the Isthmian Premier League and they have a game in hand on those above them.

But assistant manager Keith Boanas wants his players to learn from their mistakes quickly as games keep coming thick and fast.

“We try to guard against complacency ahead of every match and Wingate was a potential banana skin, but our first-half performance was terrible and all 10 outfield players could’ve been replaced at half-time,” said Boanas.

“Credit to Wingate who played without fear and caused us problems, but we also gave the ball away too many times and lost pretty much every 50/50.

“The second-half showed we can fight but we can’t afford any more performances of such contrast as it may disrupt our aspirations.”

Carshalton keeper Kleton Perntreou made two good saves in the first-half but even he couldn’t stop Wingate defender Christian Forino-Joseph’s free header on 18 minutes.

The Robins made two changes at the break and came out with renewed vigour – Lewis White was felled inside the visitors’ area on 48 minutes and captain Paris Hamilton-Downes blasted home the spot-kick.

Wingate were incensed at the penalty award and, following a couple of subsequent on-field skirmishes between the players, visiting manager Spencer Knight was dismissed from the dug-out for dissent.

Carshalton player/manager Peter Adeniyi was busy trying to influence the game on the pitch and he put his side 2-1 up with a deflected effort on 58 minutes.

And joint top scorer Ricky Korboa’s eleventh of the season meant Wingate’s added time penalty converted by Olu Akinsanya was mere consolation.

“The double substitution helped us redress the imbalance and gave us more presence in the middle of the park,” added Boanas.

“They were aggrieved with the penalty decision and a few rash challenges went in after. You can’t condone bad tackles but you want to see players showing aggression in the right manner.

“We certainly needed to show more in the second-half. Part of football is solving problems and it was pleasing to see it work out this time.”

Carshalton have two away games coming up this weekend – first up is a trip to play local rivals Kingstonian on Saturday 25th January (kick-off 3pm) before they visit Haringey Borough on Monday 27th January (kick-off 7.45pm).