Horsham 1 v Carshalton Athletic 1
Saturday 30th July 2005
Pre-season friendly

In May 2003, former Spurs hero Graham Roberts brought his Carshalton Athletic side to Queen Street hoping to get the result that would secure his side the Ryman League Division One South championship. A late defensive error gifted the Robins the points in a match they were, arguably, fortunate to win and they duly took their place in the new Conference South. But a lot has happened in the two years since. Roberts left the club under acrimonious circumstances, the playing budget was slashed and Billy Smith, Roberts' replacement, was replaced by current incumbent Jimmy Bolton. However, in playing terms, one thing remained the same as Carshalton left Queen Street unbeaten from a match that they were perhaps fortunate not to have lost.

Facing their third Conference South side in the space of ten days, it was soon clear that any loss of confidence the Horsham players had developed as a result of the drubbing at Lewes had disappeared as they looked to build on their creditable draw with Sutton United.

With an encouragingly large number of players to call upon, manager John Maggs resisted the urge for wholesale changes as he strove to develop a settled side in preparation for the new season. In fact, the only change to Tuesday's line-up was the return of Lee Carney for Mark Pulling in midfield and the supporters were treated to another entertaining game in which Horsham dominated for most of the match with Carshalton relying on breakaways or half chances.

Carshalton kicked off attacking up the slope, putting the Horsham defence under severe pressure in the opening ten minutes forcing several corners and Rob Frankland's first attempt at claiming a cross was almost costly as he mistimed his catch completely. Fortunately for the ex Croydon Athletic stopper, the visitors couldn't capitalise on the error.

After this initial ten minutes the Hornets settled into the sort of rhythm they showed against Sutton, knocking the ball around the park with great accuracy. Carney and Mark Hawthorne started to dominate proceedings in midfield and John Westcott had another excellent match on the right wing, frequently causing problems in the visitors' penalty area with some testing crosses. It was one such delivery that created the opening goal on fifteen minutes when Dominik Hudak met Westcott's cross and the big striker reacted quickest to bundle home the rebound, after his header hit a defender, to record his first goal for the Hornets.

Westcott continued to torment the Robins' defence as he created good openings for Matt Geard and Jamie Taylor as the home side looked to turn their possession into goals. Geard fashioned an shooting chance for himself when he tricked his way past two players but slipped at the crucial time and the chance was gone.

Geard was one of two players that failed to reappear for the second half, having been replaced by Wes Lopez with Carlo Castrechino coming on for the much improved Glen Matten. Jimmy Bolton made changes of his own and the fresh legs seemed to galvanise the visitors' attack, creating a great chance just five minutes after the restart. The linesman's flag indicated an offside offence but Frankland wasn't to know that as he pulled off a superb save from a fierce drive and a chance for Westcott at the other end was easily saved by Ventor in the Carshalton Athletic goal. Soon after, a desperate lunge by Hawthorne saw the midfielder reprimanded by the referee and, from the resulting free kick, Carshalton peppered the defence with several shots before a half clearance was swept back in and into the net. Again though, the linesman saved Horsham's anguish by flagging for offside.

A great breakaway by Carney set Westcott free on the right but his final ball in was just inches too high for Hudak who could only direct his header wide. Soon after this, Hudak made way for Andy Ducille giving him a twenty-five minute run out and both he and Pulling (on for Hawthorne) should have made more of headed chances. Jamie Taylor also saw a couple of half chances go begging before Carshalton started to spray the ball around, attacking down both flanks. Castrechino needlessly conceded possession but redeemed himself with a timely challenge to concede a corner and Simon Berry, who had replaced Ian Payne, was also called into defensive action with a crucial interception. Sadly, the home side failed to heed this warning and a build up down Carshalton's left flank found Richardson in space and his powerful shot zipped under the diving Frankland to level the scores in the 84th minute. A series of end to end attacks saw half chances for both sides in the dying seconds but neither side could capitalise and create the winner.

Horsham: 1.Rob Frankland 2.Glen Matten (Castrechino) 3.Ian Payne (Berry) 4.Tom Graves 5.Eddie French 6.Lee Carney 7.Mark Hawthorne (Pulling) 8.John Westcott 9.Jamie Taylor 10.Dominik Hudak (Ducille) 11.Matt Geard (Lopez) Subs: Carlo Castrechino, Simon Berry, Andy Ducille, Wes Lopez, Mark Pulling

Goalscorers

Horsham: Hudak

Carshalton Athletic: Richardson

Att: TBA