Carshalton Athletic may have ended a run of three straight defeats on Saturday, but defender Ricardo Panton says the players were still disappointed.

Tommy Bradford and Austin Gacheru had the Robins ahead twice at Redhill, only for the struggling hosts to haul them level on both occasions – leaving Panton feeling like it was an opportunity missed.

The 2-2 draw leaves the Robins 15th in the Ryman Division One South, while Redhill remain in the bottom three.

Panton, who had a goal-bound effort tipped onto the Redhill woodwork, said: “It was tough game but everyone put in a shift and we played some nice football on a poor surface “We do feel like we’ve dropped two points, but we’ve stopped the rot and must push on now.”

Carshalton went one up early on through Bradford’s sixth goal of the season before Gacheru took advantage of some slapdash goalkeeping on 38 minutes to give the Robins a half-time 2-1 lead.

The home side hit a controversial equaliser soon after the break when the referee decided to halt a Carshalton attack because he wanted to test the match ball for flatness.

“It seemed strange because we were moving forward at pace and he just blew his whistle,” said Panton.

“We fell back expecting their player to return the ball, but he passed it to a team-mate instead.

“That was a bit unsporting and it led up to their second goal but we just had to get on with it.”

Carshalton return to action at Colston Avenue this weekend for the first time since February 7 when Hastings United pay a visit.

“We’ve played well away from home recently but the results don’t reflect that,” Panton added.

“We’ve stuck together as a team and we’ll aim to keep our good home form rolling, starting by hopefully giving the fans a win to cheer on Saturday.”