Carshalton Athletic, despite a mounting injury list, earned a valuable win this week as a poor run of league results was arrested against AFC Hornchurch, writes James Barrett-Sterling.

The Robins currently have 10 first-team players unavailable and went into Monday night’s game against the Urchins with a patched up defence and off the back of three straight league defeats.

But a consummate first-half display saw Carshalton hold a 2-0 lead, via goals by defender Taofiq Olomowewe and striker Mike Dixon, by the break.

And, although Hornchurch pulled one back with 20 minutes to go, player/boss Peter Adeniyi praised his side’s endeavour to gain victory.

“We needed a reaction from Saturday’s defeat and I think the first-half was as good as we’ve played all season,” Adeniyi mused after the game.

“We moved the ball quickly, defended well and created a lot of chances. They came back into it in the second-half but we showed a resilience to go on and pick up all three points."

Carshalton already had four defenders out injured before Daniel Pappoe hurt himself in the warm-up on Monday evening, meaning 19-year old Noe Vendrells-Parcerisa was promoted from the subs bench and Luke Read was handed a debut.

“Luke has been training with us the past three weeks and I thought he was outstanding on his debut, but with the injuries we currently have you want to see people take their opportunities.

“We are happy to give the younger players a chance. Both Noe and Courtney (Swaby) did well against Kingstonian last week and have been chomping at the bit, so we had no issue putting them in.

“We could out another whole side with the 10 players out at the moment, but those coming in and performing means I’ll just have a nice headache when it comes to future selection.”

Next up for Carshalton is a trip down to bottom-of-the-table Whitehawk and they’ll be looking to complete a league double over their hosts, having beaten them at Colston Avenue 2-0 back in November.

"The work rate we put in against Hornchurch is the bare minimum we expect and I'll back all the players if they continue to do that," added Adeniyi.

"It doesn't matter if we are playing teams up the top or near the bottom, we have an expectation and a standard at this club. I'm extremely disappointed when we, and I include myself in that, don't reach it and we let our paying public down, so we have to maintain this level and push on."

Whitehawk vs Carshalton Athletic kicks-off at 3pm on Saturday 26th January.