Bedworth United 2-0 Carlton Town
Written by Nick Upton
A stunner from Bradley Munn rounded off a disappointing afternoon for Carlton Town in North Warwickshire, which saw them slip down a position to 7th in the First Division South.
Carlton introduced a new man to the squad on Saturday as Joe Flint joined from Mansfield Town and made the trip to partner Sammy MacVicar up front.
The first half was a somewhat dour affair which saw a lot of squandered possession from both sides. The Millers had the ball in the net early on when Sammy MacVicar converted a low ball in from the left, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.
Following that chance early doors, Bedworth sought to take the game to the visitors and applied sustained pressure through the remainder of the half. Ben Steane’s lobbed through ball after an impressive flowing move only managed to pick out Curtis McDonald in the Carlton goal, however.
Bedworth grew in strength as the game progressed and on 26 minutes they carved open their first clear cut opportunity. Neat work down the right-hand side by Joel Grandison to get away from Billy Bennett saw a teasing cross headed straight into the grateful grasp of McDonald by Chad Degville-Cross, when he really should have scored.
Carlton came close twice towards the end of the half as Jordan Vilums’ inswinging corner was flashed across goal by Martin Ball and ricocheted onto the crossbar, and later on as Joe Flint was sent clear by MacVicar, only to shoot tamely into Sheridan Martinez’s arms.
Bedworth came out fired up at the start of the second half as the impressive Joel Grandison burst down the right hand side and whipped a low ball in for on-loan Carlton man Reuben Wiggins-Thomas and first-half substitute Anthony Bevas to attack – both of them failing to connect.
In the 63rd minute, good work by Bevas down the left resulted in a melee in the visitors’ box and Bedworth had a claim for a penalty turned down by referee Oliver Bickle as Wiggins-Thomas had a hard time trying to turn his man and took a tumble around 8 yards out.
It would take until the 65th minute for the hosts to get the goal they duly deserved. Joel Grandison was threaded through down the inside-right channel and slammed his effort hard and low past a stationary Curtis McDonald.
Moments later, Carlton got an immediate opportunity to get themselves back on level terms as Sammy MacVicar was sent racing through but saw his shot fly the wrong side of the post.
Carlton came close twice more towards the end and Jordan Vilums looked to try and force a way through the Bedworth backline but The Greenbacks staged an admirable performance for the remainder of the half and subsequently rounded the game off with a pearler from Bradley Munn. The Warwickshire side’s 80th minute corner wasn’t dealt with sufficiently and it fell to Munn 25 yards out, who let rip and found McDonald’s top right-hand corner via a deflection, rounding off a well-deserved victory and a performance which belied the host’s league position.
Under The Floodlights 