Horsham 1 v Corinthian-Casuals 0
Tuesday 20th September 2005
Ryman League Division One

Reporter: Mark Wells

Jamie Taylor conjured up a rare moment of quality five minutes from the end of a scrappy encounter that secured Horsham a fourth successive win. Receiving a pass from Ian Payne, Taylor skipped past the defender before slipping the ball under the body of Gareth Williams in the visitors' goal to the relief of the majority of the 202 crowd.

Perhaps it was a touch optimistic to have expected a repeat of last season's corresponding fixture, when John Westcott inspired the Hornets to a scintillating 5-0 win, but those that had handed their money over at the turnstiles would have been entitled to better fare than was on display in this match. A scrappy game, that wasn't helped by an over officious display from referee Robert Whitton, failed to get going until the closing stages when the visitors could have equalised before a late challenge by Tom Crossland saw tempers boil over between both sets of players.

With Andy Walker available after missing Saturday's victory at Newport, James Cant was unfortunate to find himself relegated to the substitutes' bench alongside another weekend absentee, Dominik Hudak, while manager John Maggs had done well to recruit goalkeeper Eric Pudaloff as replacement for the injured Gary Elliott and Rob Frankland. Florian Mateos continued up front, alongside Taylor, after Maggs' decision to release former Lewes striker Marc Whiteman this week.

Horsham started brightly, Nigel Brake firing wide from Westcott's fifth minute corner before Brake's pace set up a chance for Lee Carney but his shot was wide of Williams' right hand post. Corinthian-Casuals, scorer of just three league goals this season, went close when Billy Jackson turned and flashed a shot wide after Mark Hawthorne had lost possession and Simon Moore's good chest control was wasted as he sliced his shot horribly wide after Linton Hayles' clever pass.

Pudaloff's first meaningful touch as a Horsham player brought a cheer from the home fans when, forced to advance to the edge of the penalty area to collect a dangerous looking through ball, he juggled the ball from his chest to his head before flicking the ball nonchalantly to Ian Payne with the inside of his right boot. However, he was forced into rather more urgent action minutes later when good work by Graham Tydeman saw him evade the challenge of Walker and push the ball past the exposed goalkeeper but Brake was on hand to hack the ball away from in front of an open goal. Mr Whitton had already angered the crowd by delivering a lecture to Hawthorne inside the opening minutes and he was forced to speak to Horsham's Tom Graves and The Casuals' Moore after they squared up to each other following a challenge.

Williams did well to touch Brake's excellent flick header away from under his own crossbar, on twenty-five minutes, and Taylor's neat footwork saw him fire the rebound straight at the 'keeper. The visitors then had a great chance to go ahead when a defensive error let in Moore and his pass found Tydeman but his shot was deflected and Pudaloff was able to make a comfortable save. The roles were reversed moments later when Tydeman sent Moore through on goal but he was denied by a tremendous covering tackle from Payne. From the quick counter-attack, Mateos' twenty yard strike was too close to Williams and the Frenchman should have done better, just before the half hour mark, when he collected Payne's hopeful ball down the line, beat two defenders on the goal-line only to hit his shot too high from an acute angle.

Tydeman had a strong claim for a penalty turned down when hesitant defending by the home side saw Casuals' captain, Tony Blunt, clip a pass into the Horsham penalty area only for Tydeman to go down under Payne's clumsy challenge. Brake headed Westcott's cross over the 'bar on thirty-five minutes and Casuals' manager Micky Stephens used the break in play to send on Joe Chandirah in place of Billy Jackson. Pudaloff was almost embarrassed just before the interval when he was dispossessed whilst attempting to guide the ball back to the safety of his own penalty area but John Farley was on hand to bravely block the shot. Jamie Taylor would have considered himself unfortunate to have been booked for an innocuous looking challenge on thirty-nine minutes but Hayles' lunge on Walker, seconds from the break, was worthy of the yellow card shown by referee Whitton.

Another booking heralded the start of the second half when Nick Brown was cautioned for kicking the ball away but Horsham's Andy Walker brought the fans to their feet when he began, and finished, a sweeping move that culminated in his curling right foot shot crashing away off the underside of Williams' goal. Farley's weak back header put Pudaloff in trouble but, forced wide, Chandirah could only knock the ball back into the grateful 'keeper's arms. Brake's trickery then drew a foul from Simon Shergold and Westcott's free-kick caused mayhem in the Casuals' penalty area, the ball bouncing around all over the place, before Taylor's shot cannoned away off of Brown's body and Williams grabbed the ball at the second attempt after Walker sent the loose ball back into the danger zone.

With Horsham's insistence on knocking high balls into the penalty area, Maggs decided to send on Hudak in place of Mateos but the big target man, scorer of four goals already this season, proved ineffective and cumbersome.

A stop/start half saw Tydeman send a twenty-five yard shot over Pudaloff's goal and Carney fired his volley the wrong side of the upright as Horsham's attacking ideas became more desperate. After a quick counter-attack by the visitors produced a good save from Pudaloff from Chandirah's low shot, Taylor went on a determined run but his lay-off to Carney was wasted once more as the shot from distance lacked accuracy. Carney then opened up the defence to allow Brake a shooting chance but the angle proved too tight and his shot went straight at the goalkeeper. Ironically, just as Carney finally seemed to be asserting himself on the game, he was replaced by Matt Geard and, five minutes later, Horsham took the lead. Brian Clough once famously said that it only takes a second to score a goal and Taylor's sublime finish proved the point. Payne's threaded pass was collected by the striker whose first touch took the ball away from Shergold before neatly tucking the ball into the back of the net. It was a touch of magic that instantly erased the memory of the scrappy play that had preceded it.

Incredibly, Corinthian-Casuals could, and should, have registered an immediate equaliser. From the kick-off, the ball was chipped into the Horsham penalty area and Chandirah's exquisite first touch took the ball away from the goalkeeper but Pudaloff miraculously recovered to make a crucial block from the substitute's shot.

Horsham had one final escape in the dying seconds when another Casuals attack saw the ball twice cleared from the hosts' goal-line before being driven wide.

An injury time foul by Crossland led to tempers boiling over and a ten man melee ensued that Mr Whitton struggled to bring under control. However, it may be argued that, had he stepped in to disperse the warring players rather than stand ten yards away blowing his whistle, the trouble might have been stopped much earlier.

This was another important win for John Maggs' side and, although not convincing, it is the three points that count and Maggs will no doubt be delighted with a third consecutive clean sheet from his defence.

Horsham: 1.Eric Pudaloff 2.Andy Walker 3.Ian Payne 4.Tom Graves 5.John Farley 6.Mark Hawthorne 7.Lee Carney (Geard) 8.John Westcott 9.Jamie Taylor 10.Florian Mateos (Hudak) 11.Nigel Brake Subs: 12.Eddie French 14.Matt Geard 15.Dominik Hudak 16.Carlo Castrechino 17.James Cant

Corinthian-Casuals: 1.Gareth Williams 2.Nick Brown 3.Sam Hewitt 4.Tony Blunt 5.Chris Horwood 6.Alex Rodrigues 7.Simon Shergold 8.Graham Tydeman (Watney) 9.Billy Jackson (Chandirah) 10.Simon Moore 11.Linton Hayles Subs: 12.Joe Chandirah 14.Chris Watney 15.Tony Crossland 16.Martin Dunne 17.Michael Corbett

Goalscorers

Horsham: Taylor (85)

Att: 202