Match Report

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County League - Division One

Pagham 4	Horsham YMCA 0
Stevens 40, 42 Mandry 65 Miles 81

Date: 22nd October 2002     Location: Nyetimber Lane

by Richard Bryne, West Sussex County Times

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"A WEEK is a long time in football," pondered YM manager John Suter after his side lost badly for the second time following their record 22-1 victory against Littlehampton.

Only seven days earlier they had swept through the Marigolds' defence like marauding Mongols but at Nyetimber Lane on Tuesday they were about as threatening as a gang of Volvo salesmen.

"I'm not a happy manager," admitted Suter, who has spent the week trying to explain last Tuesday's surreal evening at Gorings Mead.

"It was a freak result. Everything went right for us that night and everything went wrong for them," said Suter, recalling the amazing win. But rather than inspire his team with confidence he feels their record victory has become a burden and simply fires up their opponents.

"It has put us under pressure, we have got something to live up to. Nick Flint has got something to live up to and psychologically that's pressure. He's been a shadow of himself.

"We've really been brought back down to earth. It has not been a springboard - everything after that was going to be an anti-climax. We just have to get back to basics, work hard and take each game as it comes.

Pagham took the initiative when the nippy Lee Stevens scored twice before the break. They had to survive a sticky ten or 15 minutes after the interval but settled it when James Mandry netted in the 65th minute and with ten minutes left Adie Miles added a fourth.

Suter was again left to rue early misses: "We should have scored two in the first half and if we had it would have been a different game. Goals change games. In the second half we had ten to 15 minutes of pressure and if we had got it back to 2-I it changes the game."

In Stevens, Pagham had the outstanding player on the pitch but Suter was impressed with them throughout the side.

"He's a good player but it's not just him. They played a shorter game than we did. They kept the ball better and supported the ball better. We were not helping each other."

YM never travel well to Pagham and Suter did his best to plug his lengthening injury list by giving former Crawley player Rob O'Shaughnessy his debut at centre back and including Dave Armstrong for his first game of the season in midfield.

The tiny Stevens looks as if he could have made a career as a jockey but although he was the smallest player on the pitch he made the biggest impact almost scoring in the opening minute after a typical weaving run.

YM settled down with Micky Hennessy prominent in the middle of the park and should have taken the lead in the 16th minute when O'Shaughnessy nodded on Mark Francis' free-kick but Gil Taylor headed wide from close range.

But the home side, playing with the wind, had the pace to unsettle YM's new back-three and Dumbrill cut his knee racing out to block at Stevens' feet.

The visitors wasted their second golden chance when Nick Flint's deflected shot fell to Wayne Potter in the six-yard box. The midfielder looked poised to net but his touch let him down and keeper Wes Hallett picked the ball up off his toe.

YM looked unbalanced in the absence of the injured Phil Fitzgerald on the left and lacked the fluency of the previous week. As the half progressed, Pagham enjoyed more possession and it was no surprise when Stevens curled a beautiful shot into the top corner past the unsighted Dumbrill.

Two minutes later the striker doubled Pagham's lead when he ran on to a pass knocked over the top, dinked the ball past Dumbrill and although it hit the post won the race to knock in the rebound.

Flint, who drifted out towards the left wing, was a peripheral figure. When he did turn nicely past Jason Geall the defender tugged him back and was rightly booked.

It could have been worse for the visitors as Brett Forden almost made it three with a header across the face of the goal.

Playing with the wind, YM should have pulled one back two minutes after the restart but Hennessy tried to side-foot home Irom close range rather than blast the ball and his shot was blocked on the line. They enjoyed a good spell but were let down by a succession of poor final balls.

In the 65th minute Mandry crept in at the far post to slot home after a good move down the right. The visitors looked well-beaten, Flint departed with an ankle injury, and with a quarter of an hour left their football deteriorated.

Pagham went four up when Dumbrill failed to hold Stevens' low shot and Miles was on hand to stick home the rebound.

The only question now was whether Stevens would get his hat-trick but he was denied in the closing minutes by Dumbrill to complete a good double-save. YM will hope to rediscover their scoring touch at Sidley tomorrow.

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Team: Dumbrill; O'Shaughnessy, McCreadie, Sleat; Duffield, Hennessy, W Potter, Armstrong (Kerr 81, M Francis; Ta or, Flint Farmer 75.