Carshalton Athletic survived a scare in the FA Cup last weekend but they finally came through to book a place in the second qualifying round, writes James Barrett-Sterling.

Lower league Pagham arrived at Colston Avenue last Saturday and took a shock 2-0 lead into half-time.

But the Robins rallied after the break and, inspired by a Mickel Miller hat-trick, went on to win the tie 5-3.

And, when asked how that change around occurred, Carshalton player/manager Peter Adeniyi offered up a simple resolution.

"Our level of performance during that first-half wasn't great, so our response to the boys was this - work harder," Adeniyi said after the game.

"We have a talented squad but the effort also needs to be there. All credit to Pagham, they did really well, but once we stepped it up there was really only one team in it."

Carshalton levelled the tie before the hour mark through a 20-yard thunderbolt by Miller and substitute Raheem Sterling-Parker's angled effort.

And the Robins kept pressing until defender Kalvin Morath-Gibbs headed them in front with 15 minutes to go.

But, despite running on empty, Pagham shocked the home crowd again by breaking on 83 minutes and nabbing a third goal.

But Miller had other ideas and, straight from the restart, he took down Jordan Cheadle's long raking pass on the right. He bustled his way into the box before eventually poking the ball in from the tightest of angles.

And the 21-year old killed off Pagham hopes with his third just as the game moved into added time.

"I was pleased for Mickel but we know he's got goals in him, last season proved that," added Adeniyi.

"Scoring them isn't going to be out problem, we already have goals pouring in from all over the pitch this season, but we'll work on tightening up at the back because we don't want to have to score five every week to win games."

The draw for the second qualifying round was made earlier this week (Monday) and Carshalton's reward is a trip to National South outfit Eastbourne Borough.

Next up for Carshalton Athletic is a home league game against Faversham Town on Saturday 9th September (kick-off 3pm).