CROYDON ATHLETIC: Rams stay in relegation mire (From Croydon Guardian)

CROYDON ATHLETIC: Rams stay in relegation mire

1:20pm Thursday 31st March 2011 in Your Say

A 3-1 defeat for Croydon Athletic against play-off contenders Harrow Borough at the KT Stadium left the home side still in 19th place in the division, with other results going their way this week.

An early chance for captain Jon Cartledge went just wide for the Rams and in the 10th minute a long range shot from Tommy Whitnell struck the underside of the crossbar and came out – a sign of the bad luck the Rams have been experiencing in a lot of games recently.

It was the away side that went ahead in the 14th minute when a shot across the goal fell to Wayne Walters and his volley from close range hit the back of the net.

A chance at the other end for Helge Orome saw his shot well saved by Nick Jupp in the Harrow goal and another opportunity for the home side to level came soon after when Stefan Joseph was denied by the feet of the keeper.

As the half wore on, Harrow’s Dean Fenton had a long range chance from 20 yards that went just wide but in the 40th minute Harrow went two up when Rocky Baptiste’s shot was saved by Charlie Mitten, only for the rebound to fall to Kent Nakashima and the Japanese midfielder made no mistake in getting his name on the scoresheet. Croydon still threatened and had their chances, none more so than Alan Bray, making his debut after signing on loan from Sutton United, who had a great chance when his strike hit the post and he was unable to convert the rebound towards the end of the first half.

Soon after the restart Rams’ keeper Mitten limped off and Evandro Delgado made it three for Harrow when he found himself free in the penalty area in the 58th minute.

Croydon kept going and Kevin Sefaah was through in the box in the 69th minute only to see his attempt go wide of the target.

However, Croydon gave themselves a fighting chance when Whitnell made it two goals in two games since signing at the weekend, with a great long range strike to pull one back for the Rams in the 80th minute.

It was too late for the home side though and Harrow march on with their promotion ambitions while Croydon continue to battle it out at the bottom, five points adrift of safety.

Croydon Athletic: Charlie Mitten (57 mins Adam Peck), Colin Hartburn, Alan Bray, Kevin Sefaah, Jon Cartledge, Rhys Coleman, Helge Orome, James King, Tommy Whitnell, Stefan Joseph (74 mins Shabazz Baidoo), Leandre Lohourignon (62 mins Danny Elgar) Subs not used: Dammy Bada