Match Report
County League:Division One
| Horsham YMCA 1 Churchill 28 |
Pagham 1 Fordham 89 |
Date:16th September 2003 Location:Gorings Mead
Source Richard Bryne, West Sussex County Times
YM THREW away another two points when they conceded a soft equaliser a minute from time against Pagham.
The late goal was a miserable end to a dire night of football that deteriorated as quickly as the light.
Phil Churchill gave the hosts the lead when he bundled home a corner from close range in the first half and they held on until the 89th minute when Pagham centre-back Brett Fordham headed home an up-and-under to grab a point.
But anyone who chose Gorings Mead rather than the Champions League might have been having second thoughts at half-time. YM looked anything but championship contenders and Pagham have only a relegation battle to look forward to on this evidence.
"We just didn't have enough quality tonight," admitted bitterly disappointed YM manager John Suter. "I felt sorry for the people who paid to get in, I would've wanted my money back."
The hosts had much more of the ball in the opening period and hassled their opponents but did not create many clear-cut openings. "We dominated the first half and should've been further ahead at half-time. There was no problem at half-time, we worked hard, closed them down and ran them ragged," said Suter. "We had a lot of good attacking positions but didn't have the sort of quality to turn the pressure into goals."
However, the longer the game went on the poorer YM played and they were reduced to hopefully lumping the ball forward. "I don't know what happened in the second half," said Suter. "We stopped working. We couldn't keep the ball to save our lives, we gave it away so easily."
Suter went into the match without Wayne Potter, Ryan Andrews, Gil Taylor, Paul Young and Phil Fitzgerald and it showed. YM started with four left-footed outfield players but the team still looked unbalanced and they missed Potter's organisational and motivational talents in the middle.
On another perfect night for football, the hosts started positively when David Oakes played Joel O'Hara down the left and the midfielder's wonderful first time cross was headed wide by Churchill at the near post, but their football was rarely as fluent.
Andy Lutwyche had a downward header saved by Wes Hallett while some of his team-mates turned to the officials, suggesting the ball might have crossed the line.
Package Price and Churchill closed down the visitors' back-three and YM were equally keen in midfield but they looked disjointed when in possession.
However, the hosts took the lead in the 28th minute with a goal that summed up the quality of the game. Oakes scuffed a near post corner, several Pagham players swung at thin air and Churchill was left to squeeze the ball over the line from inches out, although how much he knew about it was debatable.
They almost doubled the lead five minutes later when Churchill won the ball on the left and pulled it back for Price. The striker played the ball on for Matt Duffield who hammered a low shot just wide in a move reminiscent of Alan Shearer's fabulous goal against Holland in Euro 96.
Price fired into the side netting after Lutwyche found him with a great diagonal long ball but for all the home side's possession, they never really opened up the visitors and Hallett rarely had to get his tracksuit bottoms dirty.
Fordham became the first of the visitors to go into Adrian Hudson's book when he persisted in telling the referee where he was going wrong and was joined early in the second half by Robin Josephs.
Pagham possessed about as much punch as Dale Winton but the home side's hesitancy in their own area was worrying and when they failed to clear, Darren Akmenkansis almost took advantage when he fired a shot that Scott Kenward held well. Then Bryn Hauxwell flashed a speculative first time effort just over from 35 yards as YM seemed to stop playing.
"How much do we want this," implored Duffield to his players and, judging by their reaction, the answer was not very much.
The home management must have been chewing their hands off with frustration at the team's inability to kill off the game. It was Pagham's turn to enjoy plenty of possession but as the clock ticked down, they seemed more interested in arguing with Mr Hudson, who booked Derek Chester and Akmenkansis in the closing minutes.
It looked like YM had done enough but when they failed to clear a corner, the ball was lifted back in and Fordham headed home unmarked from close range as Kenward and his defenders watched.
The visitors made the long trip home happy with their point but it was more a case of neither team deserved to win than a case of a well-earned draw.
Team: Kenward; Fenn, Lutwyche, Sleat (Charman 62); Carden, Duffield, Brown, O'Hara, Oakes; Price (Francis 77), Churchill (Friar 83)