Match Report
Sussex County League: Premier Division
| Horsham YMCA 6 Churchill 1, 23, 37 Westgate 75 Carden 85 Cambridge 90 |
Shoreham 0 Leigh 75 Laidlaw 84 Jackson 90 |
Date:28th Feb 2004 Location:Gorings Mead
Source: Russell Staves, West Sussex County Times
WHEN YM edged past Shoreham earlier in the season it was hard to work out how the South Coast club were rooted to the bottom of the division.
That wet September evening The Musselmen belied their lowly position and would have felt aggrieved not to have taken at least a share of the spoils after goals from Paul Young and Gil Taylor denied them victory.
The same, however, could not be said this time around as YM stomped all over their dismal opponents who were a shadow of the side who performed so admirably only a few months ago.
Phil Churchill was the first to put the boot in when he scored after just 15 seconds and the remaining 90 minutes were as one-sided as a pie eating competition involving Rik Waller.
Churchill netted twice more in the first half to complete his hat-trick – reaffirming his return to form as a top penalty box sniffer – before unlikely goals from Barrie Westgate and Dean Carden, and a debut strike from Ross Cambridge, completed the rout.
"They are not a strong side and it could have been a lot more, but we have done the job," said YM manager John Suter, before adding that 'nothing to win and everything to lose' games against lowly opposition can sometimes prove tricky if you do not approach them in the correct manner.
"When you get a team like that, the law of averages says they will win a game at some point. You just hope it won't be against you. But we tried to adopt the same attitude we had when we played Chichester, who were top," he said.
As a former striker who used to thrive on goals, Suter will be delighted that Churchill is beginning to show signs of his old self. The former Burgess Hill forward has scored six in seven games and his 'perfect' hat-trick here – left foot, header, right foot – was the clearest sign yet that he is back to his best.
"It was good to see him looking like the old centre forward. He looks to have his pace and eye for goal back. I was pleased for him," said Suter.
It was Churchill who started the romp 15 seconds after the kick-off. A few of the shivering spectators were still making their way to their seats when Young squared for his strike partner to finish past the hapless Lee Aylward.
Westgate nearly made it two with a brave header ten minutes later, but he just failed to squeeze Young's free-kick in at the far post – the ball rebounding off the foot of the upright and away from danger.
Shoreham's sole bright spark was the front pairing of Kriss Kolle and Ken Sharpe and while they were constantly starved of possession, they showed a refreshing willingness to attack YM's defence whenever they did get the ball.
The duo were involved in Shoreham's first penetrative move of the game when Kolle held the ball up well before laying it off to Sharpe who side-footed wide.
Churchill nearly scored a minute later when his attempt to steer home Jamie Still's pass was deflected wide but the striker was not to be denied in the 23rd minute. Matt Duffield collected a ball over the top before crossing deep where Churchill bravely stooped among the boots to head home number two.
It was no surprise when he completed his hat-trick before half-time, calmly side-footing into the bottom corner after Nathan Sleat had caused problems on the edge of the box.
The visitors were better after the break – they could not have got much worse – and the game began to get a little untidy with Paul Lockhart the first into the referee's book following a cynical tug on Duffield's shirt as YM broke at pace.
While almost everything Churchill touched turned to gold, the same could not be said of Young who had one of those days where nothing went for him. He was inches away from curling a 20-yarder past Aylward midway through the half and later blazed Carden's inviting cross over from close range.
YM scored their fourth with 15 minutes remaining and the only surprise was the scorer. Substitute Gil Taylor's cross prompted a game of head tennis until Westgate let the ball drop and lashed it home on the volley, belying the fact that it was his first goal of the season.
Shoreham should have pulled one back five minutes later when Lockhart, whose depressed look suggested he had just spent the previous evening swigging cheap cider and listening to Coldplay, crossed for an unmarked Kolle to head wide from six yards.
The hosts rubbed salt into the wound when they went down the other end two minutes later and scored a fifth. Carden timed his run perfectly and, ignoring Shoreham's pleas for offside as he controlled Taylor's through ball, clinically finished with the outside of his boot across the exposed Aylward. "I never thought I would say the word 'clinical' in the same sentence as Carden," joked Suter.
There was time for one more, Cambridge shooting into the far corner despite Aylward getting a firm hand on the ball before watching it roll agonisingly into the net.
Team: Chatfield; Carden, Westgate, Silsby, Sleat; Duffield, Potter, Brown (Cambridge 68), Still (Martin 73); Young, Churchill (Taylor 70).