It’s been mixed emotions for Carshalton Athletic fans already since the opening weekend of the Bostik Premier League, writes James Barrett-Sterling.

A battling 1-0 win at Lewes last Saturday got the Robins' season off to a flyer, but a lapse in concentration on Monday night saw them eventually lose 2-1 against visiting Worthing.

Carshalton conceded two goals in the space of one second-half minute but, although the Worthing goal lived a charmed life during the last 10 minutes, the Robins had already wasted good chances to be at least three goals up by half-time.

But, as they gear up to host local rivals Kingstonian this weekend, player/manager Peter Adeniyi believes it won’t take long for his squad to learn from their mistakes.

“We’ve made a step up and the intensity is higher, so it’s going to take us a few games to get used to this level of football,” said Adeniyi, whom made his first start of the season on Monday night.

“Obviously we aren’t pleased with the result against Worthing, but both that game and the victory at Lewes were great experiences for us against two tough opponents.

“It’s been a good learning curve already and we’ll look to improve quickly on the things we’ve taken note of.”

Saturday’s trip to Lewes saw Carshalton take all three points via Ola Sogbanmu’s 58th minute strike, although the Robins had to play the last 25 minutes with only 10 men as Raheem Sterling-Parker was dismissed for a rash tackle.

And the Robins were leading at half-time against Worthing thanks to Ricky Korboa’s first of the season, although both Kalvin Morath-Gibbs and Mike Dixon missed glorious chances to make the scoreline look healthier.

And Worthing made their hosts pay as David Ajiboye took advantage of some slack defending to score twice in 60 seconds and ultimately condemn Carshalton to defeat.

“Football is all about moments and had we taken our chances in the first-half then the final result might’ve been different,” lamented Adeniyi.

“We managed the game well up until the 70th minute, Billy (Bishop, goalkeeper) hadn’t had much to really do, but we switched off mentally for one minute and it cost us. That’s something we will work on moving forwards.”

Carshalton Athletic vs Kingstonian is on Saturday 18th August (kick-off 3pm).