A quick-fire hat-trick by Charlie Ide ensured a welcome victory against a physical Town side who came into this game with several impressive wins against higher level opposition behind them and with the hope of another scalp before the season starts in earnest.

The early chances came Carshalton’s way and Jack MacLeod’s corner was glanced wide by the head of Ide.

Not long after a glorious cross-field pass by Scott Cousins picked out MacLeod whose first time shot drew a fine save from the home keeper.

Brentwood refused to be overawed, however, and fought back to take the lead 10 minutes before the break when a ball from the left caused hesitation between Harwood and goalkeeper Reed allowing a Town forward to prod the ball in from close range.

Late in the half some fierce tackling By Brentwood players resulted in several incidents off the ball and the Robins lost their way as their concentration slipped.

Whatever might have been said at half-time is unclear, but within ten minutes the Robins were in front.

The equaliser had more than a stroke of good fortune as Daly’s shot from a half cleared corner hit Charlie Ide as it was going wide and was deflected past the surprised home keeper.

The second was little less than outstanding with the same two players directly involved, but on this occasion a flighted pass by Daly was followed by a brilliant piece of ball control by Ide before driving the ball home.

Shortly after MacLeod’s evening came to a premature end when he fell victim to an appalling tackle as he drove the ball across the face of the goal, with no action by either the referee or linesman who both had a clear view of the incident.

Undeterred, the Robins pressed forward once more and were rewarded when Gray’s pass found Ide on the run giving him the chance to claim his third goal of the evening.

Brentwood pulled a goal back from what seemed to be an offside position, but Carshalton closed the game down to record their third win in a row from what was undoubtedly a challenging game.

Carshalton squad; Mark Reed, David Graves, Scott Cousins, Liam Harwood, Lewis Gonsalves, Adrian Toppin, Jack MacLeod, Bashir Alimi, Charlie Ide, Richard Jolly, Wes Daly, Simon Cooper, Matt Gray, Adrian Stone, Frankie Sawyer, Paul Honey, Dean Carpenter.