Unbeaten 2023 continues

Balham 3 Carshalton Athletic 2

Balham completed the double over local rivals Carshalton, ensuring their unbeaten run in 2023 continued. Astonishingly, this fifth League victory of the season was their first at home on a heavy and difficult surface. Earlier on in the season, the Whites had put on their best display of the season against these opponents; they did not reach the same heights today, but were deserved winners. The boys dominated possession and had significant territorial advantage throughout but a combination of wasteful finishing and poor defensive errors made the match much closer than it should have been.

Balham started like an express train, and could have put the game to bed in the first ten minutes. Matthieu came close in the first minute, swiftly followed by an exquisite left-footed cross from Max which bounced off Wilbur just wide. It really was all out Balham pressure, with the Reds incapable of getting out of their half at all. Somewhat expectedly, as soon as they did, they punished Balham with an incisive break to take an unlikely lead.

A highly frustrating scoreline nearly became worse but for a smart double save from Jacob and the Whites needed to pick up their game again. Matthieu came close after a surging run, but it was birthday boy Wilbur who equalised with a long-range effort being spilled into his goal by their keeper. Perhaps a fortunate goal, but very much a deserved one.

After a scrappy period, Balham took the lead after some excellent attacking play from Wilbur found Joe in the box to tap home. Matthieu was causing mayhem down the right wing and there only looked like one side who was going to score the next. The away team held out though and Balham took a 2-1 lead into the break.

The Whites started the second half just as they had started the first. Wilbur's long-range effort hit the outside of the post and the boys had a raft of chances to kill the game. Ty's rampaging run resulted in a long-range Matthieu effort; Wilbur hit another chance agonisingly wide across the goal and Sammi nearly curled an effort into the top corner. The Whites spent several attacks camped on the opposition penalty area but could not find the killer pass. Finally, the third came after a wonderful Wilbur free-kick was not cleared, nearly went in off a defender, only to be tapped in by an alert James.

With fifteen minutes left, it looked like the game was won, but a goalkeeping error from Jacob let the opposition back in the match after another quick counter-attack. Whilst never really tested for the remainder of the match, the last ten minute was nervier than it needed to be, but neither side really had a clear-cut chance to score.

A battling result on a bitingly cold morning, and Balham can be thrilled with their best form of the season racking up 7 points from 9. Sadly due to the number of postponements, the Cup takes priority next weekend so Balham are not in action again until 19th February.