•MATCH REPORT BY DAN BISHOP

Carlton Town 3-2 Long Eaton United

The Blues’ search for a Northern Premier League Division One Midlands victory continues despite a spirited second-half display from Brad Munn’s men.
They fell to a midweek 3-2 defeat at Carlton Town, for whom Nathan Watson was the hat-trick hero.

An early attack from United saw Gianluca Bucci meet Harry Eden’s delivery at the far post and head the ball back across goal, only for it to be headed over the bar by a Carlton defender at the expense of a corner.
However, it was Carlton who enjoyed the lion’s share of forward possession in the opening 45 minutes. In the main, these attacks were dealt with effectively by the United rearguard, although Bucci had his name taken by the referee with a quarter-of-an-hour played having brought his man down on the edge of the area.

The Blues’ resolve was finally broken just after the half-hour mark when Watson cut inside from the right, lifted the ball over Eden and met it on the volley, leaving Lewis King in the United goal with no chance.
Jahvan Davidson-Miller flashed an effort over the bar for United two minutes before the interval, but having failed to test Felix Annan in the Carlton goal they could have little complaint about going into the interval trailing the hosts.
United’s situation quickly worsened when they conceded a second two minutes after the break. Watson was left unattended to tap in Jack Thomas’ low cross from close range.

The Blues had Lewis King to thank for keeping the scoreline down on a couple of occasions, but as the hour mark passed they began to find more of a foothold in the game.

Curtis Durose came on for Kieran Francis on 63 minutes, and manager Munn rolled the dice four minutes later with the double introduction of Connor Pace and George Atwal. Those changes paid dividends for United, with Pace drilling a low strike just wide of target within two minutes of entering play, and with Carlton’s defence finally coming under scrutiny, the deficit was reduced on 75 minutes when Dexter Walters – making his first appearance since re-signing for the Blues earlier this week – was hauled down in the box and James Taylor calmly despatched the resultant spot-kick.

Walters fired into the side-netting, and Davidson-Miller struck wide of the target as the Blues pressed for an equaliser.
However, their hard work was undone on 88 minutes when Eden was caught in possession by Watson just outside the box, and the Carlton danger man advanced on goal before slotting the ball under King.

A crestfallen Eden held his hands up for the error immediately, but were it not for a double save from King early on in stoppage time the hosts would have been out of sight by the time Davidson-Miller netted a consolation goal with the last meaningful kick of the game. His low strike from the edge of the box in the fifth minute of added time was United’s first effort on target from open play and comfortably beat Annan.

BLUES LINE-UP: King (c) - Nyakuhwa (Atwal 67), Eden, Cotterill, Bucci - Cocks (Pace 67), Davidson-Miller, Walters, Williamson (Hanson 46) , Taylor - Francis (Durose 63).
Bookings: Bucci (15 - foul), Hanson (90 - foul).
Goals: Taylor 76 (penalty), Davidson-Miller 90+5.
Attendance: 284