Horsham 1 v Harrow Borough 4
Saturday 7th October 2006
Ryman League Premier Division

reporter: Mark Wells

Horsham's hopes of a seventh league win of the season floundered inside an error-strewn opening quarter of an hour that saw the visitors race into a 3-0 lead in front of Queen Street's highest attendance for seventeen months. Horsham had designated this first meeting with Harrow Borough for twenty-seven years as the annual 'Kids for Free' day and the autumnal sunshine brought families out in their droves, helping to push the crowd figure to 766, but quite what the new supporters made of the start of the game is anyone's guess as the visitors made the most of the Hornets' currently fragile defence to score in the fifth, ninth and thirteenth minutes to effectively end the contest before it had chance to begin.

With first choice goalkeeper Gareth Williams out of action for five to six weeks, following a training ground accident, former Three Bridges 'keeper Alan Mansfield made his first league appearance for the Hornets with the inclusion of skipper Andy Walker the only change to the starting eleven that lost so disappointingly during the week. After ten goals had hit the back of the Horsham net in their previous two matches, the last thing Horsham wanted to do was to concede another early on but that's just what they did as Danny McGonigle's fifth minute strike deceived Mansfield who dived underneath the ball and could only watch as it bounced up and over his body before nestling into the back of the net. The home side fought back and an excellent low cross from John Westcott should have produced an equalising goal but neither Jamie Taylor nor Carl Rook could apply the finishing touch from inside the six yard box and the visitors made them pay by promptly breaking away to score their second of the game after nine minutes. The pace of Elliott Onochie took him into the right side of Horsham's penalty area before giving Mansfield no chance with a powerful shot into the far corner. Walker sent a volley wide, a minute later, but a disastrous error from Eddie French underlined the current lack of confidence among the Hornets' back line when he played the ball straight to McGonigle who set up Onochie to cross into the box for the unmarked James Bent to head home past the shellshocked Mansfield.

Fortunately for Horsham, Harrow appeared happy to sit back and defend the big lead gifted them so early in the game, inviting their opponents to bring the game to them. A patient build up earned the home side a corner on twenty-three minutes but French was unable to atone for his earlier aberration when he sent the ball over the crossbar from close range following Rook's neat flick. The roles were reversed when, from Horsham's next corner, French headed on at the near post but Rook was unable to bring the ball down in the packed penalty area and Bent cleared the danger. Maggs' team continued to do all the pressing but showed an infuriating insistence to play the ball around unconvincingly at the back where they were closed down quickly by the visitors' hard working forward line. When the ball was eventually played into the attacking third, the Hornets were able to fashion chances for Matt Geard, who might have marked his fiftieth appearance for the club with a goal had the ball fallen on his favoured left foot rather than his right, and Rook sent a header over the top from Westcott's cross. They had the ball in the net, ten minutes from the break, but Jamie Taylor was harshly adjudged to have handled the ball in the build up and his 'goal' was ruled out by referee Irvine Woodward. Danny Leech, a thirty-fourth minute replacement for McGonigle, had the visitors' first effort on goal since going 3-0 up, sending a shot wide of goal in the fortieth minute. They should have extended their lead still further, two minutes later, when Geard conceded a free-kick on the right hand side of the penalty area and Gary Meakin's driven free-kick found Wayne Walters at the near post but the central defender couldn't get the required contact and a grateful Mansfield was able to gather. A late burst from Westcott saw him deliver another quality cross but Tom Graves flashed his header wide when a goal looked on the cards. Horsham's frustrating first half was compounded in injury time when Nigel Brake was cautioned for a reckless challenge on Daniel Nielsen, an incident that was to have serious consequences later on.

The Horsham wide man clearly hadn't learnt his lesson when a wild challenge on Nsubuga, in the opening minutes of the second period, left him fortunate to remain on the pitch. However, it was to be merely a brief respite for the former Sutton United man as a flashpoint near Horsham's corner flag, two minutes later, saw him pick up a second yellow card and the obligatory early bath. Onochie caused problems down the Harrow right but was seemingly well contained by Geard whose attempted block enabled Mansfield to come and gather a weak cross. However, Onochie appeared to lash out at Geard while he was on the floor and an incensed Brake made his feelings known, pushing the Harrow man away and sparking a sixteen man brawl. When the dust had settled, Mr Woodward showed the red card to Harrow's transgressor who joined Brake in making an early departure from the game.

The Horsham goal had an incredible let-off when a cross from the right caused pandemonium in the heart of defence and, with Lewis Taylor and French unable to clear the bobbling ball, Rickey Browne turned and rolled a shot towards goal from four yards only for Graves to hack the ball away from on the goal-line. Gary Charman was introduced in place of the struggling Geard, ten minutes into the half, and was instantly celebrating a goal with his team-mates. Jamie Taylor did well to hold off three defenders before laying the ball off to Westcott to cross into the box and Rook got in front of Walters to fire in a shot that had too much on it for goalkeeper Kieran Jimmy who could only push it up and into the net. Mayhem ensued when Rook and Taylor tried to wrestle the ball out of Jimmy's arms as he looked to kill time and, in the melee that followed, Browne appeared to punch Rook; an incident that was missed by the officials to the consternation of the furious Horsham fans. Mr Woodward did reach for his pocket, moments later, when Kwasi Frempong put in a high tackle on Lee Carney and Charman was to follow when a mistimed challenge left Bent in a heap as the game turned fractious.

Buoyed by Rook's goal, Horsham began to attack in waves with Lewis Taylor becoming more and more prominent and his good cross was headed narrowly over by namesake Jamie. The same player should have done better from Westcott's cross and Rook rose highest at the far post but couldn't direct his header, knocking it harmlessly across the face of goal. Horsham's attacking policy was going to leave the inevitable gaps at the back and Nsubuga raced past a sluggish Carney to blast over the top. David Idemudia became the latest recipient of a yellow card when he brought down Jamie Taylor and, from the ensuing free-kick, Carney's thunderbolt was punched clear by 'keeper Jimmy. From the clearance, Carney was felled by the arm of Bent who escaped censure from the referee and, this time, Taylor stepped up and hit the free-kick that was deflected behind. As the expectations of the home fans increased, so did the noise level from the terraces, but their hopes of an unlikely comeback were dashed when, from the resulting corner, Lewis Taylor was left exposed as a clearance left him isolated against Nsubuga and Leech. Although he won the challenge against Nsubuga, the ball fell invitingly for Leech to run on and slot home to the delight of the pocketful of supporters behind Mansfield's goal.

The Hornets battled gamely to try and salvage some pride with Rook and Jamie Taylor testing the reflexes of the visiting 'keeper and Lewis Taylor sent a shot whistling narrowly wide of the target but, despite their best efforts, the Horsham attack failed to breach their opponents' rearguard again and they almost made it five goals against for the third match in a row when Constant broke through only to lift his shot just over the crossbar. With ten days before their next fixture, boss John Maggs knows he has some serious work to do to put things right to ensure that the Hornets' excellent start to the campaign is not in vain.

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

Harrow Borough: 1.Kieran Jimmy 2.Daniel Nielsen 3.David Idemudia 4.Wayne Walters 5.Rickey Browne 6.Kwasi Frempong (Barima) 7.James Bent 8.Danny McGonigle (Leech) 9.Elliot Onochie 10.Gary Meakin 11.Albert Adomah (Constant)
Subs: 12.Dean Marney 14.Jonathan Constant 15.Danny Leech 16.Michael Barima 17.Gary Ross

Goalscorers:

Horsham - Rook (53)

Harrow Borough - McGonigle (5), Onochie (9), Bent (13), Leech (74)

Attendance: 766