Match Report
Ryman League: Division One South
 Horsham YMCA 1Gordon 25 |  Chatham Town 1Hogg 45 |
Match Ball Sponsor: RON MOULDING | Words by Tom Norris |
YM DENIED TWO VITAL POINTS IN FRUSTRATING HOME DRAW
Horsham YMCA manager John Cumberbatch was honest in describing his side’s performance at home to Chatham Town on Saturday as more ‘two points dropped than one point gained’. The hosts could muster only a draw against the Kent based side sitting just six league places above them, in a game that saw neither side particularly dominate the play. The result, however, ensured that YM spent yet another week fixed to the foot of the Ryman Division One South table, three points and three games adrift of their nearest rivals Whyteleafe.
|
Match Stats |
||
|
Horsham YMCA |
V |
Chatham Town |
|
3 |
Shots On Target |
5 |
|
5 |
Shots Off Target |
9 |
|
2 |
Offsides |
4 |
|
6 |
Corners |
4 |
|
13 |
Fouls |
13 |
|
2 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
|
0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
Cumberbatch said, ‘It was definitely two points dropped today. I feel much better about the way we played as we created a lot more than we have done in the last two games. However, I feel that we were a bit unlucky with their goal and ultimately that has cost us two points, which is a shame.’
The hosts will be disappointed not to have taken something more from the fixture, where all of the afternoon’s action seemed to happen in the first half. YM made a shaky start but soon found their feet and should have been a goal up on the quarter hour mark. Left back Daryl Plummer played a delightful chipped ball into forward Gavin Gordon, only for the bustling striker to have his tame shot cleared off the line by a retreating Chatham defender. Ten minutes later though, the front man’s fortune appeared to change. A poor corner from Spencer Sachies was glanced on by midfielder Matt Simpson at the front post, and Gordon was on hand to nod home his twelfth of the season from close range.
Having taken the lead, however, the YM defence was immediately called upon to keep the visitors at bay, as the Chats raced forward straight from the restart. YM ‘keeper Mark Fox made a brave stop to deny an awkwardly bouncing Chatham free kick, before a vital sliding challenge from skipper Glen Woodburn kept out a low Nick Hegley strike.
Gordon should have then doubled his tally for the afternoon when he was found in acres of space on the YM right. But the striker dawdled on the ball and with the Chatham keeper off his line, panicked, lobbing his effort high over the visitor’s crossbar. The home side were then made to pay for their lack of composure in front of goal, when the visitors found a way through the YM defence right on the stroke of half time. Completely against the run of play, Aaron Firth’s misguided pass somehow found its way to winger Anthony Hogg, who, with the help of a touch off left back Plummer, brought the ball down and leathered it past ‘keeper Fox from the edge of the area, to leave a deflated YM reeling at the break.
The second half, however, failed to live up to the expectations created by the display of the first forty-five, and other than a sharp save from ‘keeper Fox to deny Hogg a second, neither side really created anything of real intent. YM brought on midfielder Omar Folkes, who impressed in the middle of the park, but neither he nor the ever lively Damien Ramsay could provide a way through for the home side.
Cumberbatch added, ‘I was pleased with the way we dominated some parts of the game and although there weren’t that many clear-cut chances, I do feel that there were a lot of half chances that we worked well to create.’
YM will look to improve on Saturday’s performance with an away trip to in-from Dulwich Hamlet on Tuesday, before an all important six-pointer against Corinthian Casuals on the 6th Feb. Casuals are a side just two league places above YM, and with important players on their way back, nothing other than a win will do for Cumberbatch’s men.
‘The Corinthian Casuals game, from our point of view, is a definite six pointer and we have to make sure that we get all three points from that’ said the YM boss.
‘I think that we will be a lot stronger side when we get some of our players back. I know Lotty (Kevin Lott) will return for Tuesday’s game and Danny’s (Dan Duddley) injury looks like it’s not as bad as we thought, so hopefully it shouldn’t be too much longer before he’s back too.’
YM (4-4-2): Fox, Plummer, Woodburn (c), Reid, Harris, Sachies, Simpson (Adewuni 48), Bowra, Ramsay, Gordon, Henry (Folkes 45)
