Carshalton Athletic finally secured their first away win of 2010 with an inspired 2-1 win over Ashford Town to revive their hopes of avoiding the drop from the Ryman League Premier Division.

With so many teams scrapping for their Premier Division survival, Ian Hazel's men finally showed signs of the fighting spirit that will ultimately decide which league they will be playing in next season.

Goals from David Ray and Barry Stevens cancelled out Femi Ilensami's well-taken header to take Athletic to within one point of nearest rivals Maidstone United with a game in hand.

Carshalton had to play without midfielders Karl Murray and Kenny Beaney, suspended and ill respectively, and the early exchanges suggested that there was little to choose between the sides.

Athletic's Stevens played in Richard Jolly, but the angle for a shot proved too tight. Jolly did, however, threaten with a free-kick that was cleared for a corner before ex-Town player Ricardo Joseph was given the space to unleash a shot from outside the area that rattled the upright with home keeper, Craig Ross, beaten.

The away side eventually took the lead on 32 minutes when Jolly's throw-in was only cleared as far as Rashid Kamara who worked his way across the face of the penalty area before laying the ball into the path of David Ray.

The Carshalton captain's low shot, like so much of his play in recent weeks, was crisp and precise, and the Robins were deservedly in front.

Ashford responded immediately and were nearly level when Russell Canderton's header from a corner produced a good save from Robins keeper, Nic Hamann. The shot-stopper came to the rescue again with a smart savefrom Warren Harris's close-range effort.

Just before the half-time break the Robins were denied a second when Jolly's low cross from the right found Byron Harrison in the centre, but the former Ashford player was judged to have fouled his marker with onlythe keeper to beat.

Ashford were stirred into action at the start of the second half and only had 5 minutes to wait in their search for the equaliser. Jermaine McGlashan's burst down the left was halted at the expense of a free kick against Ray and a booking.

Warren Harris stepped up and delivered a inch-perfect cross and full-back Ilensami duly obliged by heading past Hamann from close range.

Spurred on by this, Ashford pressed for a second and a second goal at this point for the home team would undoubtedly have left Carshalton struggling, but the visitors slowly weathered the storm due in no small part to the quality of Ricardo Joseph whose influence in the Robins midfield grew as the game went on.

Joseph was directly involved in the Robins second deflecting Ray's free-kick to Stevens who beat Ross with a delicate header that went in off the post.

The influential midfielder was at the heart of all of Athletic's best attacking play and his cross from the left proved just too high for Jolly, while Kamara missed a glaring chance to complete the win when he shotly wildly from close range.

Carshalton continued to dominate and some of their football belied their league position. Joseph chipped the ball over a tiring Ashford defence into the path of Jolly, but his attempted lob was well saved by Ross.

The away team finished the stronger of the two sides and might on a good day have won by a bigger margin, but the three points were well-deserved and could prove priceless in their continued fight for survival.

Robins team; Nick Hamann, David Ray, Rob Watkins, Justyn Roberts, Lewis Gonsalves, Adrian Toppin, Barry Stevens, Ricardo Joseph, Byron Harrison, Richard Jolly, Rashid Kamara (Jimmy Heave) Subs not used: Danny Casciato, Steve Newman, Luke Badiali