Sussex County League: Division One
Match Report
Sussex County League: Division One
 Horsham YMCA 0 |  Redhill 1 Radford 84 |
Match Ball Sponsor: | Source: Tom Norris |
YM ROBBED BY CRUEL LATE WINNER
Horsham YMCA suffered their second league defeat in the space of four days, as Redhill grabbed a late winner to take all three points from Gorings Mead on Tuesday evening.
|
Match Stats |
||
|
Horsham YMCA |
V |
Redhill |
|
3 |
Shots On Target |
3 |
|
7 |
Shots Off Target |
11 |
|
5 |
Offsides |
1 |
|
4 |
Corners |
5 |
|
14 |
Fouls |
11 |
|
1 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
|
0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
Substitute Lee Radford's close range effort, six minutes from time, was all that separated the sides in an extremely lively encounter.
"How unlucky was that?" YM boss Buckland commented. "We at least matched them all over the park, but with twenty minutes to go, I said to myself that someone is going to win this game 1-0, and unfortunately it wasn't us."
Still without five first team regulars, YM were overawed by a physical Redhill outfit in the first quarter of an hour, who were incessantly sharp in closing the ball down. The hosts then saw striker Dean Wright stretchered off midway through the half following a nasty knee twist, further adding to an already depleted squad.
The visitors wasted some good chances to take the lead, before YM ended the half the brighter of the two sides. Martin Smith's attempted lob fell just wide of the target, before Dean Cox had a legitimate penalty shout waved away.
And the hosts began the second half as spirited as they had concluded the first, defender Matt Crane first having a header tipped round the post, before the potentially game-changing moment saw a Smith shot miraculously blocked on the line from six yards by Redhill's Gideon Acheampong.
"If Martin [Smith] had scored, it would have been a totally different ball game." Buckland added. "They were on the rack and they're quite a young side, so I think the game would have been different had we scored."
Tempers then began to flare, as the play became fragmented and both sides were restricted to efforts from range.
But Redhill still had time for a winner, as six minutes from time a long Ryan Briggs free-kick was headed down in the box, stand-in YM 'keeper Matt Jones fumbled the loose ball, and Radford was on hand to tap home from close range to secure all three points for the Reds.
Buckland concluded, "The missing players today would have made the difference, but we're back to full strength on bank holiday Monday, which gives us that strength in depth we perhaps lacked tonight. It was a good performance and if we can carry that on into the next game, then maybe Lady Luck will shine on our side.
"I'm disappointed to have lost, but I'm still upbeat, and I still think that we're in good shape."
YM's next fixture is at home to Worthing United in the league on bank holiday Monday. YM (4-4-2): Jones, Stillwell, Hartt, Crane, Lowe, Sullivan, Dugdale (c), Hunter, Martin (Scally 63), M. Smith, Wright (Cox 19)
Unused Subs:Vinten, D. Smith, Aquilina
