Match Report
County League:Division One
 Southwick 0 |  Horsham YMCA 4 Eldridge 15 M.Russell 26 Gellatly 36 Carden 89 |
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Date: 21st January 2006 Location:The Old Barn
Source: Allan Norbury, West Sussex County Times
A COMPOSED YM performance saw off a struggling Southwick with four emphatically taken goals.
After the wasteful finishing of last week's 1-1 draw with Chichester, it took three strikes in 20 first half minutes from Russell Eldridge, Matt Russell and Dave Gellatly to put this match to bed.
YM are now only seven points behind Ringmer, with three games in hand, after the Division 1 leaders slipped up against Chichester, losing 2-1.
"It was a game we should have won, Southwick have been struggling all season," said boss John Suter.
"The second half was a bit disappointing, Southwick came out and played with a lot more energy, but we had taken advantage in the first half.
"We took a long time to test the keeper, but once we did, the first goal was a cracking volley. All the goals were struck fantastically."
YM were swiftly into their stride as the hosts rarely threatened, Glen
Woodburn fired a difficult chance over the bar in the third minute.
Ellis Hooper directed affairs from midfield while James Grant had :, plenty of room to run at the Southwick backline.
However, the goal threat came from the opposite flank, Dave Gellatly burst into the left side of the box, and after his cross was deflected behind his corner was flicked on by Hooper on the penalty spot and Eldridge smacked in a sweetly struck volley for 1-0.
A loose pass from the Southwick defence was picked up 11 minutes later by Eldridge, he threaded a pass to Russell who smashed the ball past keeper Ben Counsell. Two efforts on target, two goals.
Striker Russell was playing his first match since returning from a hamstring injury.
Suter commented: "It was nice to have Matt Russell back, and it was nice that he had no reaction to the injury."
The game was lively finished as a contest on 37 minutes when Gellatly collected an Eldridge pass and held off Southwick's Ross McKay to rifle past Counsell for 3-0.
Counsell made a further three stops before half-time, a double save from, Grant and Tom Carter and diving at the feet of Russell.
Southwick came out fighting in the second half, but the YM defence gave Paul Elliot and Mark Newman little change.
Dean Garden enlivened a quiet second half, adding pace to the YM attack and he instigated a move which saw fellow sub Chris Plumridge head over.
Garden wrapped up the scoring in the 90th minute, hooking the ball into the top corner after linking with Eldridge and Plumridge.
The win keeps YM hot on the heels of Ringmer and comfortably ahead of tomorrow's (Saturday's) opponents Whitehawk.
Suter added: "There's an awful lot of the season left, I don't expect Ringmer to slip up too often."
Team: (4-4-2):Chatfield; Duffield, Carter, Woodburn, Fitzgerald (Levett 72); Gellatly, Potter (Garden 68), Hooper, Eldridge; Grant, Russell (Plumridge 73).