Horsham 1 v East Thurrock United 1
Tuesday 17th October 2006
Ryman League Premier Division

reporter: Mark Wells

Horsham managed to stop the rot of three successive defeats as they were held to a draw by visiting East Thurrock United in a game that failed to truly entertain Queen Street's lowest league gate of the season until the closing stages. Trailing to Jamie Bunn's 34th minute free-kick, the home side huffed and puffed their way through the game without creating any decent goalscoring chances until Jose Goncalves' introduction, a little more than twenty minutes from time, seemed to galvanise the Hornets into action. Lee Carney thundered a shot against the crossbar before the substitute conjured up a moment of sublime skill, totally out of keeping with the rest of the match. Receiving the ball just inside the East Thurrock half, Goncalves took the ball down the flank before cutting back inside two defenders and curling an unstoppable shot across the diving Jamie Lunan and into the far corner of the net. Within five minutes the home side were awarded a spot-kick after Jamie Taylor's persistence had earned his side a penalty but the little man undid his hard work by placing his shot too close to the goalkeeper who pulled off a comfortable save. To cap a frantic spell, Carl Rook had a goal disallowed as the Hornets were left frustrated at being unable to claim an overdue win that their performance had deserved.

After seeing his side concede fourteen goals in three games, Hornets' boss John Maggs invited Eastbourne Borough's former Brighton & Hove Albion defender Kevin Hemsley to join the club on a month's loan and the twenty-four year old was given his debut alongside Eddie French in the centre of defence with Tom Graves moving into the full-back berth. With club captain Andy Walker joining James Cant in leaving the Atspeed Stadium this week, Maggs played an attacking midfield quartet of Carney, Lewis Taylor, John Westcott and Gary Charman while Alan Mansfield continued to deputise in goal for the injured Gareth Williams. The visitors were looking for their first ever win at Queen Street and were boosted by a 2-0 win over Boreham Wood at the weekend that ended a wretched run of five games without a goal, moving them into sixteenth place in the table.

East Thurrock kicked off the game attacking down the Queen Street slope but it was Horsham who had the first effort on goal, Lunan making a comfortable save from Jamie Taylor's header from the edge of the box. South African linesman Baris Erguven incurred the wrath of the Horsham supporters when signalling for a ludicrous offside decision against Jamie Taylor, whose pace had seen him outstrip two defenders despite giving them both a five yard start, and the officials' decision making was to have the fans and management team in a state of apoplexy throughout the game. Rook might have opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Jamie Taylor's clever pass released Westcott and his square ball into the penalty area was crying out to be swept home but a defender's challenge led to a scuffed shot from Rook and Lunan was able to gather the ball on the goal-line. Hemsley started the game in assured fashion and his general play seemed to rub off on French, making his 250th Horsham appearance and who was looking to banish the demons when his awful error gifted Harrow Borough a goal last time out. On a rare occasion when the debutant made an error, he quickly atoned by robbing Bunn of the ball as the striker looked set to shoot at goal. Rocks skipper Alex Fiddes gave Mansfield an easy save but three corners in quick succession from Steve Harrison put the home defence under pressure, holding out with a mixture of some resolute defending and positive goalkeeping. However, a harsh looking free-kick award paved the way for the visitors to edge in front on thirty-four minutes when Hemsley and Bunn looked to contest a high, bouncing ball only for referee Harry Lennard to rule that the Horsham player had fouled his man and Bunn strode up to sidefoot an innocuous looking strike past the wall and into the bottom corner, taking a slight deflection on its way into the net. Horsham tried to hit back quickly and Charman shot straight at the goalkeeper from Carney's deep throw, Jamie Taylor's shot forced Lunan into an untidy save after good work by Rook to win the ball back and Rook again did well to cross to the far post where the stretching Charman couldn't quite get enough contact to direct the ball home. In between, Fiddes hit a snapshot just wide and Carney's dipping volley flew just over the top as the hosts found themselves trailing at the interval.

A shaky start to the second half from the Hornets almost allowed Fiddes to increase the Essex club's lead but his shot went wide of Mansfield's right hand post. French almost forced the ball home from a free-kick and, from the resulting corner, Rook was adjudged offside as he tried to head home at the far post. The luckless striker was finding himself constantly penalised by Mr Lennard when seemingly on the receiving end of fouls himself and an ironic cheer went up from the supporters when the man in black finally came down on the Horsham striker's side after sixty minutes, penalising Max Cornhill for a push in the back. Both managers reshuffled their personnel shortly after when Kevin Mully was replaced by Scott Holding and Goncalves and Stuart Myall replaced Graves and Lewis Taylor and, within a minute, good work from Nigel Brake set up Carney who struck the bar from twenty-five yards. More contentious decision making from Mr Erguven had Maggs and his assistant, Tommy Warrilow, leaping to their feet to vent their frustrations earning both men a lecture from the referee before allowing play to continue and it looked like it wasn't to be Horsham's night when a long ball played into the Rocks' penalty box appeared to strike a hand only for the appeals to be waved away. But, just minutes later, Goncalves scored his wonder goal to bring the Hornets deservedly level and Rocks' manager Lee Patterson threw on Chris Lewis for Bunn as he looked to his side to preserve a precious point. One point might have become three, had Fiddes managed to keep his shot down after Lee Burns had escaped Brake's attentions down the Thurrock right and Mansfield had to be at his best to prevent Harrison's snapshot creeping in at the near post. From the corner, two players were left with a free header but, fortunately for Horsham, Harrison put his effort wide of goal. A huge up and under from Carney looked like a wasted ball destined, it seemed, for the arms of Lunan but Jamie Taylor's presence caused the 'keeper to fumble and, in his haste to retrieve the situation, hauled the striker down to concede a penalty-kick, and a yellow card. After Carney's miss against Chelmsford City, the penalty taking duties were switched to Taylor but his execution was all wrong and the ball ended up thudding into the goalkeeper's midriff before being cleared. If Maggs' players were disillusioned by this, they certainly didn't let it show as they instantly formed another attack as Taylor and Charman combined ,with the former's shot being turned into the goal by Rook but from an offside position according to the increasingly unpopular linesman.

Although the home side went close on a couple more occasions, Taylor, Brake and Westcott shooting wide when each were well placed, it was the visitors who had the best chance to secure maximum points when a slip by Hemsley left Danny Harris in the clear but Mansfield pulled off a fine save to ensure that both sides ended with a point apiece.

Horsham: 1.Alan Mansfield 2.Tom Graves (Myall) 3.Nigel Brake 4.Eddie French 5.Kevin Hemsley 6.Lewis Taylor (Goncalves) 7.Lee Carney 8.John Westcott 9.Jamie Taylor 10.Carl Rook 11.Gary Charman
Subs: 12.Matt Geard 14.Jose Goncalves 15.Stuart Myall 16.Andy Howard 17.Rob Frankland

East Thurrock: 1.Jamie Lunan 2.Wes Faulkner 3.Danny Lunan 4.Kevin Mully (Holding) 5.Gary Wotton (Burns) 6.Max Cornhill 7.Lee Williams  8.Alex Fiddes 9.Jamie Bunn (Lewis) 10.Steve Harrison 11.Danny Harris
Subs: 12.Bradley Stevens 14.Chris Lewis 15.Lee Burns 16.Kris Newby 17.Scott Holding

Goalscorers:

Horsham - Goncalves (78)

East Thurrock - Bunn (34)

Attendance: 296