CROYDON FC 3 – 2 SHOREHAM TOWN

It only took three minutes for Croydon to take the lead. A Sammy Morgan corner reached Kieron Rufus, and David Green’s shot managed to squeeze past the inside of the far post. He wasn’t as lucky eight minutes later when a shot from long range ended wide of the near post. Following passes from Andy Walker and Jordan Samuel, Aaron Reber had a go from inside the box, only for a clearance from Shoreham, who also cleared after Walker had a further chance, following a through ball from Green. 

Samuel was close to scoring soon after, then Lauris Chin was unlucky that his shot hit the crossbar, before Reber’s corner was kept out by Shoreham goalkeeper Joe Southam.

Later in the half, chances came for Reber and Walker, before Chin was then taken down and Croydon got a free kick, only for Reber’s shot to be blocked by the defensive wall. 

Four minutes into the second half, a cross from Samuel was kept in play, and Cameron McGovern scored.

At the other end came a couple of chances from Shoreham, George Kamurasi tipped the ball over the crossbar, then after a corner he made another save. However, on the hour mark, Kamurasi couldn’t stop Alfie Mitchell who scored for the visitors

Croydon extended the lead on 64 minutes when Reber’s corner reached Rufus who made a short pass towards captain Jordan Anderson, who backheeled the ball into the net.

Croydon were down to ten men with 20 minutes to go, as Reber was sent off. Despite this, more attempts followed. A Trams free kick went towards Samuel who almost scored. Then a Samuel pass got to Harvey Morton, whose shot went straight to Southam.

Shoreham also had a chance through Mitchell. Southam then made a few saves, a Samuel attempt was pushed out, Morton’s shot was stopped, and following a corner, a chance at short range from Rufus was saved, all in the space of a few minutes.

In stoppage time, Shoreham got a free kick, and then a penalty that Alex Patching scored in the 96th minute.

There was still time for Southam to save a soft shot from Morton, for Aaron Bogle to get booked, and a chance for Shoreham to equalise only for the shot to go wide of the post before the referee blew the whistle.

The Coming of Age, the history of Croydon Amateurs FC’s first twenty-one years, is almost ready for print but an urgent request.

Do any readers have photographs (as opposed to press cuttings) of the Albert Road  Recreation Ground from pre 1953 and also the nascent Arena in 1953 and 1954? Emails please to historian Steve Tyler on tyler672@aol.com