CROYDON FC 1 – 1
LEWISHAM BOROUGH
Croydon are still unbeaten in the League this year but missed the opportunity to match a record of consecutive League wins.
The game started with a cross from George Palmer going to the right post that was cleared by Lewisham. Then Cameron Macmillan made an attempt, again from the right, but couldn’t get past the Lewisham defence.
A Croydon corner led to an Alfie Eldridge header, only for it to be eventually cleared. He did have another attempt, which only led to a throw in. Alex Arif too had an attempt, thwarted by an opponent who blocked him.
After Lewisham’s forwards went past the Croydon defence, goalkeeper Albert Penney reacted quickly and made two saves in quick succession. Lewisham’s Jeffrey Oredein tried to make it third time lucky, but his shot ended wide of the post. For Croydon, a cross from Arif reached Pat Ward, but his header was caught by James Boughtflower.
There was a wayward shot from Eldridge that then came off an opponent and ended wide of the near post. After a couple of good moves, there was an assist to Palmer but his shot went over the crossbar.
However, Croydon took the lead on 54 minutes. Eldridge took a free kick, which reached a defender’s foot and the ball went in Ward’s direction. Boughtflower was coming towards Ward but the striker got to the ball first, heading it into the net and putting the Trams into the lead.
Eight minutes later, Lewisham were given a questionable penalty. Andrea Carrera took it, but Penney saved it, not once but twice as the ball was caught on the rebound. Croydon looked to extend the lead three minutes later with a free kick taken outside the box, but this was pushed out by Boughtflower and a subsequent chance from Macmillan was cleared.
There were less than seven minutes of normal time to go when Alfie Clark cleared a Lewisham chance that led to a corner. However, after an assist, Carrera equalised for Lewisham. With only six minutes of normal time, Croydon could not regain the lead. There was only one more chance when a corner was received by an opponent and cleared.
Croydon: Penney, Palmer, Friend, Rufus (C), Dwyer (Clark), Arif (Walters), Eldridge (Barton 65), Macmillan, White, Jenkins (Akinwumni), Ward (Naiwo 90+1).
Subs (unused): None
