County replaced Carshalton at the bottom of Nationwide Conference South with a performance in keeping with their new status.

The score suggests a narrow defeat, but this was a one-goal thrashing that would have been far more emphatic were it not for goalkeeper Tony Pennock.

The effort and application that have characterised most of County's displays under Peter Beadle were missing, and while the manager inherited a squad woefully ill-equipped to cope in skill, physique and endeavour, Saturday's starting line-up contained seven Beadle signings.

What was unacceptable to County's large following was that they played a side without a home win all season, in a ramshackle stadium, with no kit sponsor and a small fan base, but who displayed a pride and passion absent in the visitors.

The loss of two central defenders to prison in November is a problem Beadle has not solved, and it needs immediate attention, because the pairing of Gareth Warton and Ian Hillier looks way short of the mark.

Hillier was performing well before being switched from full-back, and Beadle was unlucky to lose new signing Paul Cochlin on Boxing Day with a knee injury which threatens to keep him out for another couple of weeks. But Warton, who has been captain since Jason Bowen's injury last month, had a torrid time of it when Peter Crouch lookalike Luke Fontana ran him ragged in the first half.

He was spared further embarrassment to accommodate the second-half return of Bowen on the right wing, with debut-making full-back Stuart Edwards moving to centre-back, and Terry Evans dropping to right-back. But after a few promising touches Bowen was totally anonymous and twice gave the ball away when well placed.

The Welsh international was an inspiration last season but has been peripheral in his 13 league games this term, and Beadle admitted that he expected much more from him.

The opening quarter of an hour gave no indication of the problems to follow and Matt Green had a smart effort well saved on 16 minutes by Adam Federici.

But the former Maidenhead 'keeper might as well have brought out a pipe and armchair for the rest of the game, with Craig Hughes way off target from County's few half-chances, and once Craig Dundas headed Carshalton into a 25th-minute lead it was game over.

County's only threat was when Tyrone Toppar was fed the ball, but the 17-year-old winger was almost frozen out of the game by team-mates who could not string a couple of passes together. The second half was Pennock versus Carshalton, and the 'keeper denied Fontana a hat trick and pulled off two wonder saves from home substitute Mark Marshall.

l Former County striker Cortez Belle scored twice on his debut for Llanelli in their 3-1 win at Bangor on Saturday. Nick Harrhy also scoring.

Carshalton: Federici, Hartburn, Patterson, Graves, Cartledge, York, Simms (Marshall 55), Quinton, Fontana, Dundas, Johnson. Subs not used: Nwanze, Pritchard, Hooper, Hunt. Scorer: Dundas (25). Caution: York (68 dissent). County: Pennock, Edwards, Bater, Jenkins, Warton (Bowen 46), Hillier, T Evans, Davies, Green (O'Sullivan 82), Hughes, Toppar. Subs not used: Williams, Fisken, Bradley. Attendance: 431.