Horsham 4 v Hendon 1
Friday 25th August 2006
Ryman League Premier Division

Reporter: Mark Wells

Prolific striker Jamie Taylor closed in on the magical one hundred goal mark for the Hornets with a hat-trick to help his side defeat Hendon in this Friday night fixture. Taylor's first goals of the season leaves him just two short of the milestone but, more importantly, enabled the club to maintain their unbeaten run as they continue to adjust to life in the Premier Division. Brought forward 24hours to avoid clashing with near neighbours YMCA, Hendon's first ever visit to the Atspeed Stadium attracted a crowd of 347 - most of whom would have gone home happy having seen Horsham's impressive start to the season continue. After falling behind as early as the ninth minute, John Maggs' side showed the determination to overhaul the deficit by half-time before Taylor's crucial second goal gave Horsham some breathing space and a first win of the season was secured with a late penalty that moved the Sussex side into fourth place in the table ahead of the remaining weekend's fixtures.

Andy Walker resumed the captaincy of the club after missing the midweek draw against Carshalton Athletic with Portuguese winger Jose Goncalves dropping to the bench while the visitors fielded a number of their summer signings including goalkeeper Richard Wilmot whose double penalty save at Hampton and Richmond on Tuesday night couldn't prevent Hendon from slipping to their second successive defeat.

Latecomers might have been excused for thinking that Real Madrid had rolled into town with the visitors' white kit looking very impressive under the floodlights and they opened the scoring with a goal that would have graced the famous Bernabeu Stadium itself. Having withstood a period of early Horsham pressure, Hendon broke quickly when a ball from defence found their skipper, Ross Pickett, on the halfway line and his knock down fell kindly for Japanese midfielder Takumi Ake who took aim and sent a tremendous thirty-five yard shot dipping over Gareth Williams' head and into the back of the net for his second goal of the season. But the Hornets were behind for just four minutes and their equaliser owed much to the determination and vision of their captain as Walker ran at the heart of the Hendon defence before pushing a delightful ball into the path of Jamie Taylor who finished with aplomb.

Former Harefield United forward Nas Richardson was unfortunate not to open his Hendon account in the twenty-fourth minute when his shot was deflected off of Eddie French and a good move involving Lee Carney and Lewis Taylor ended with Walker's first time shot being blocked by Dwayne Williams. Shortly afterwards, Ake's handball was missed by referee Will Bull, allowing the Hendon man to pick out team-mate Dean Thomas, but he fired his shot wastefully across the face of Williams' goal.

Still hampered by a slight injury that had previously threatened to rule him out of the start to the season, Gary Charman had struggled to make an impact during the opening stages of the game in which he was well marked and Maggs decided to replace him with John Westcott, just before the half hour. Lewis Taylor's pace had been giving the visitors problems during the evening and he underlined his versatility when his switch to the left saw him involved in a one two with Jamie Taylor before curling a right foot shot straight at Wilmot. Westcott was quickly into his stride on the opposite flank, linking well with Carney and Jamie Taylor but Wilmot was down smartly to block Carney's shot.  Home supporters didn't have too much longer to wait for their side's second goal, though. A minute before the break, Westcott returned Pickett's weak header down the line to Jamie Taylor who surged into the box before finding Lewis Taylor unmarked at the far post to sidefoot home and claim deserved reward for his bustling first-half display. However, it was almost all square again, seconds later, when Wayne O'Sullivan embarked upon a mazy run into the Horsham penalty area only to be blocked by William's brave dive.

Despite the three goals, the first half was relatively free of goalmouth incident but a lively opening to the second period saw both sides looking to add to the scoring. Jamie Taylor's snapshot was well saved by Wilmot at the feet of Carl Rook and a strong run by O'Sullivan saw him pull the ball back from the byeline, sending it bobbling dangerously across the face of goal before deflecting behind off the body of Graves. Pickett was just inches away from getting on the end of Ake's tidy chip on fifty minutes before a swift attack from the home side found Walker wriggling free of his marker to send a shot just over the bar after good work from Jamie Taylor. Walker was on the end of a series of Horsham moves, showing an encouraging willingness to join the attack, and was unfortunate to see his shot deflected from twenty yards after Rook and Lewis Taylor's determination had set up a shooting chance for their captain. The visitors strove to reduce the deficit and French had to produce a good challenge on Pickett after a quick break had opened up the Hornets' defence. He was beaten soon after, though, when substitute Husein Kharas sent over a deep cross to the far post but O'Sullivan was unable to get over the ball, sending his header over the bar.

Horsham were becoming frustrated by the visitors' resolute defending, and strong tackling in midfield, and needed a goal to settle the nerves. They got it, after 66 minutes. Rook was proving a handful for the Hendon defence, using his height to great advantage, and it was from another flick-on from the former Hastings man that Jamie Taylor collected the ball and neatly sidestepped a defender before despatching a left foot shot inside the post. Hendon hit back almost immediately and James Burgess was given the freedom of the pitch to drift inside and clip a good pass into Pickett but the skipper's effort was in vain after his volley came back off the post only for the linesman to raise his flag for an offside offence.

Horsham increased their lead twelve minutes before the end in slightly controversial circumstances. An excellent ball from Lewis Taylor released Westcott down the right and his first time cross seemed to be shepherded behind by Kharas, under pressure from Jamie Taylor. However, the linesman instantly put his flag across his chest to indicate a penalty, adjudging the unfortunate sub to have handled the ball. There was no doubt as to who was to take the spot kick and Wilmot was unable to repeat his heroics of three nights before when Taylor stepped up to send the 'keeper the wrong way to complete his first hat-trick since April 2005. Again, the Hornets relaxed their guard and almost allowed the visitors back into the game within a minute when slack play let in Williams but he dragged his shot wide when well placed.

Ten minutes from time, Horsham constructed a slick move that almost produced an early contender for goal of the season. Walker was at the heart of things once again, beginning the move with an excellent crossfield pass to Westcott but the winger's continued reluctance to take on his man led to the ball being played back to Ian Payne who curled a good pass into Jamie Taylor on the edge of the penalty area. A perfectly weighted touch by the hat-trick hero found Walker continuing his run but his first time shot lacked composure and was sent crashing into the Cowshed end.

A double substitution took place when Hendon's Danny Edwards replaced Rakki Hudson and Andy Howard came on for Matt Geard - the full-back struggling from the effects of a strong challenge a few minutes earlier. Payne moved into Geard's vacant position with Graves switching to the right to allow Howard to team up with French in the centre of defence. Taylor surprisingly spurned the chance to claim his fourth of the night after Carney carved open the visitors' defence with an inch-perfect pass inside the full-back for the overlapping Lewis Taylor to unselfishly pull the ball back but his namesake shot wide from eight yards. Craig Vargas was shown the yellow card for a challenge through the back of Rook and Ake showed that he was more accurate from thirty-five yards than he was from ten when his wayward shot ended up in the car park to waste Hendon's final chance of salvaging something from the match. The final act of the game came when Maggs sent on Goncalves for Walker, giving PA announcer Mark Barrett the kind of pronunciation problems usually attributed to Horsham chairman Frank King, much to the amusement of the crowd.

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

Hendon: 1.Richard Wilmot 2.Rakatahr Hudson (Edwards) 3.Craig Vargas 4.James Burgess 5.James Parker 6.Ross Pickett 7.Nas Richardson 8.Dwayne Williams 9.Takumi Ake 10.Dean Thomas (Kharas)  11.Wayne O'Sullivan.
Subs: 12.James Busby 14.Danny Edwards 15.Husein Kharas 16.Josh Hunte 17.Lee O'Leary

Goalscorers:

Horsham - J Taylor (13, 66, 78), L Taylor (44)

Hendon - Ake (9)

Attendance: 347