Match Report
County League - Division One

Littlehampton 0 Horsham YMCA 2
Taylor 53
Young 76

Date: 14th December 2002    

by Russell Staves, West Sussex County Times

The Sportsground, Littlehampton

Paul Young, picture courtesy of the West Sussex County Times A SCORING record that had lasted 77 years was torn up when these two teams met on an infamous night in October and it is likely to be longer before the books are rewritten.

YM pulverised Littlehampton that evening but the hosts are a different side now with only James Thornton bearing the scars from the brutal 22-I bat- tering after new manager Carl Stabler rung the changes.

Stabler, who is an old mate of YM manager John Suter after their days together at Wick, spent most of the game standing by the dug-out encouraging his players.

He has got the South Coast side more organised. They got men behind the ball when they lost posses- sion and for 53 minutes a goalless draw looked more likely than another record breaking result.

But Suter was in no mood to do his old friend any favours and his half-time dressing down injected some life into a disjointed and wasteful YM and they began to knock the ball around with more pur- pose.

Gil Taylor broke the deadlock with a close range header and Paul Young doubled the advantage in the 76th minute.

There were few similarities between the two wins but whether it is a 22 goal margin or a two goal margin that separates the sides, it is the three points that matter and YM are now only five points behind leaders Burgess Hill.

"It was not going to be easy," said Suter.

"Anything better than 22-1 was an improvement for them — they had a lot of motivation for the game.' Suter admitted that a few words were needed at the break after a diabolical first 45 minutes and his team responded to seal the win.

'We were playing it too long, too early, too straight. We were giving the ball away trying to play the killer pass. I thought we played quite well in the second period, and they did not trouble us too much. We had some good chances and played a lot better in their half," he said.

The Littlehampton ground is next to the town's cricket pitch and with spectators and dugouts lining just the one touchline, there is a soulless feeling about the place.

But the spirit at the club was still evident as the hosts fought from referee Mark Thompson's first blast of the whistle to the last, scrapping for every-thing loose and going hard into the tackle.

It was Littlehampton who were causing the most problems with striker Steve Davis, who played forYM against Horsham in pre-season, only being denied a scoring opportunity by a last ditch tackle by Scott Langridge.

Littlehampton won two corners in the 20th minute and from the second set-piece, Nathan Sleat bravely blocked Geoff Ward's shot. The hosts kept coming forward and Davis looked most likely to break the deadlock. Put through on goal, he went to ground as Jason Dumbrill came out to narrow the angle but Mr Thompson opted to give a goal-kick and a few words to the forward rather point to the spot.

But Davis had a more legitimate claim for a penalty on the half hour mark. Lee Barnard sent Davis clear with a header and he appeared to be bundled over by Stewart McCreadie inside the box. The Littlehampton players and bench were up in arms but Mr Thompson kept his hands by his side for the second time.

YM were struggling to string together passes and quite often players with time and space would try long balls that grey-haired keeper Micky Phillips had little trouble collecting from the edge of his area.

Matt Duffield busied himself down the right in his usual energetic style and one low cross from the YM skipper picked out Young but the striker missed with a Kanu-like back-heel from a few yards out.

The teams kicked off for the second half as the rain began to get heavier and Young nearly put YM ahead two minutes after the break but Phillips somehow pushed his shot over the bar.

The visitors took the lead in the 53rd minute after another break down the left. David Oakes, who replaced the injured Phil Fitzgerald, swung a cross in and the unmarked Taylor headed into the middle of the goal.

Joel O'Hara forced Phillips to clumsily tip over his long-range effort and mid-way through the half was again denied by the ageing keeper who came off his line quickly. But the threat was not over and O'Hara, who was still on the ground, hooked the ball goalwards but Chris Hazel headed off the line.

However, the revitalised visitors got the second goal their play deserved when O'Hara played a diagonal ball through to Young and the YM striker made no mistake, smashing it past Phillips.

Team: Dumbrill; Langridge, McCreadie, Sleat; Duffield, Flint, Potter, OHara, Fitzgerald (Oakes, 46); Young (Fenn, 85), Taylor (Death, 78).