The pre-match news that new manager Francis Vines had released Bashir Alimi, Scott Cousins, Wes Daly and Jack MacLeod left little doubt of his intention to rebuild the Carshalton squad.

Making their first appearance for the Robins were goalkeeper Nick Hamann from Hamburg and striker Craig Falconbridge from Oxford City, but the scale of the task also became clear as the miserable run of form continued with only two league points being gleaned from the last six league games.

Boreham Wood were also missing a couple of first choice players and could have done without the early departure of Danny Braithwaite, but they pressed forward from the off and Hamann was soon in the thick of the action with a double save from Greg Morgan and another fine save when he pushed over a fierce drive from Dean Green.

The home team went ahead on 15 minutes when Leon Hunter headed in when the ball came back off the post, but Carshalton came close to an equaliser when Richard Jolly got away on the right only to fail with a pass to the unmarked Falconbridge in the middle. A mistake by Liam Harwood allowed Dean Green a free run at goal but his woeful finish passed wide of the far post.

Carshalton enjoyed the better of the remainder of the half, but without looking likely to score.

David Graves headed Charlie Ide’s corner just wide but it wasn’t until the fourtieth minute of the half that Carshalton had a direct shot when Barry Stevens tested the Wood reserve keeper.

The Robins hopes of getting back into the game suffered a further blow five minutes into the second half when Liam Harwood brought down Green just inside the area earning a sending off and conceding a penalty which Lee Allinson placed into the corner to double the lead.

Down to ten men, the Robins then enjoyed their best spell of the game.

David Graves header from Beaney’s free kick came back off the post, but the Robins continued to press forward with Jamie England replacing Charlie Ide.

They were rewarded with an excellent goal when Toppin picked out Barry Stevens on the right with a good pass and when Stevens crossed from the right Craig Falconbridge directed his header into the net to score on his debut, gaining some reward for his hard work.

Carshalton’s hopes of getting something from the game proved to be short-lived, however, and Wood secured the points with ten minutes remaining when Mario Notto had the simple job of knocking the ball in as the Robins defence were again exposed.

No doubt Vines will welcome the chance of a 10 day break before the next league game with lots of work to do on and off the field.

Robins team: Nick Hamann, David Graves, Dean Carpenter, Justin Roberts, Liam Harwood, Craig Falconbridge, Kenny Beaney, Adrian Toppin, Charlie Ide (Jamie England), Richard Jolly, Barry Stevens (Paul Honey) Subs not used: Simon Cooper, Matt Reed