Ringmer 1 v Horsham 3
Thursday 19th April 2007
Brighton Charity Cup

reporter: Jim Bravery

Horsham overcame a stubborn Ringmer side at the Caburn ground, reversing last season's scoreline to reach the final of the Brighton Charity Cup for the fourth time in five seasons and, with it, the chance of revenge against Chichester City United by whom they were defeated in the 2005 final. With only pride left to play for this season, both sides were looking to end their season with the chance of silverware and fielded their strongest available line-ups with the Blues featuring former Hornets Luke Gedling and Glen Matten among their number. The Hornets, under the charge of coach Tommy Warrilow in the absence of the holidaying John Maggs, began the game with the same defensive quartet that proved so successful at Ramsgate at the weekend with Stuart Myall moving into midfield alongside Lewis Taylor, John Westcott and Matt Geard while Carl Rook and Dean Wright continued up front.
 
Despite spending a short spell at Queen Street two seasons ago, Matten is arguably remembered more by Horsham fans for his involvement in the dismissal of Lee Carney whilst at Burgess Hill last season and the defender wasted little time in making his presence felt in this game, conceding a couple of free kicks inside the opening two minutes from which Kevin Hemsley forced a good save from home goalkeeper Joe Adams. The early challenges set the tone of the match that was to be a tough but fair battle under the watchful eye of referee Mr Robinson, a late replacement to the advertised official, whose decision to administer stern lectures rather than a bookings made a refreshing change to the card happy referees of recent weeks.
 
Ringmer were playing their third game in the space of five days but, in a first half that was shaded by the Ryman League side, the Blues could and perhaps should have made the visitors pay for spurning several good chances with only a combination of Hornets’ ‘keeper Alan Mansfield and poor finishing denying them a goal. Danny MacLaughlin wasted a glorious chance when set up by Miles Scerri, totally fluffing his kick with only Mansfield to beat, while Eddie Keboah had a chance but blazed his effort wayward. Horsham were also guilty of missing good chances, perhaps the clearest of which saw Geard miss an almost open goal from three yards out when he blazed his shot over the bar with only Adams to beat. Wright almost put the Hornets in front from a Westcott centre, cheekily back healing his effort goalwards but straight at a relieved Adams who saved. The youngster was then instrumental in setting up Geard to put a teasing ball right across the six yard box only to see despairing lunges from Rook and Westcott unable to turn the ball into the net at the far post. Rook had two good chances, that Adams and his defence were able to deal with, and the first half was brought to an end with a long skyward punt from Matten that saw Mansfield make a clean catch at full stretch under pressure from Scerri and his own defenders.
 
With no changes to either team during the interval, Geard had an early chance when he tried to chip in at the near post but a deflection off of a defender turned it onto the roof of the net. At the other end, an excellent ball into the area from Koboah should have met the head of Scerri but he appeared to duck under the flight of the ball, allowing Myall to usher it out for a corner. A long range effort by Clive Snell went high over Mansfield’s bar while Myall had a half chance to break the deadlock when he picked up a clearance from a corner, deftly going past Snell, but drove his effort straight at Adams.
 
It wasn't long before the Hornets did score, however, when a free kick into the area saw a double header from skipper Eddie French finished off by another one from Rook from a few yards out to give the visitors the lead in the fifty seventh minute. Seven minutes later it was two nil as Myall put a thunping shot into the roof of the net after Rook had set up the chance. The Horsham target man was to play no further part in the game as two substitutions from both sides over the course of the next five minutes saw Rook and Geard make way for Kevin Cooper and Nigel Brake, while Arran Macmillan and Herve King replaced Scerri and Gedling for the Blues. A quick counter-attack from the Hornets presented a shooting chance to Cooper after French’s clearing header had sent Tom Graves away down the left flank and a swift pass inside teed up the much-travelled striker but his shot went well wide of Adams goal. Cooper atoned for the miss five minutes later when his shot took a deflection off a covering defender before landing in the corner of the Ringmer net to give the Hornets a three goal cushion with only twelve minutes left on the clock. It should have been four, two minutes later, when Myall found himself unmarked at the far post but he somehow managed to miss the kick. With ten minutes to play, Lewis Taylor was withdrawn by Warrilow who sent on Shane Graham in his place with Wright dropping back into midfield. With time running out, and the Horsham players knowing the victory had almost been achieved, a rare defensive lapse enabled Ringmer to grab a last ditch consolation goal when a left wing cross was allowed to travel across the crowded goalmouth towards several blue-shirted players where skipper Matt Beeson was credited with the touch that took the ball over the goal-line. Suddenly the home team thought there could be time to cause an upset but, apart from a long range shot from Maclaughlin that was easily gathered by Mansfield, the time ran out leaving the travelling Hornets supporters looking forward to a cup final appearance at the end of a memorable season..

Ringmer: 1.Joe Adams 2.Glen Matten 3.Josh Lawrence 4.Ryan Macmillan 5.Phil Elkins 6.Clive Snell (Evans) 7.Matt Beeson 8.Luke Gedling (King) 9.Eddie Koboah 10.Miles Scerri  (MacMillan)11.Danny Maclaughlin Substitutes: 12.Aaran Macmillan 14.Herve King 15.Dan Evans 16.Paul Thomsett 17.Matt May

Horsham: 1.Alan Mansfield 2.Andy Howard 3.Tom Graves 4.Kevin Hemsley 5.Eddie French 6.Lewis Taylor (Graham) 7.John Westcott 8.Stuart Myall 9.Dean Wright 10.Carl Rook (Cooper) 11.Matt Geard (Brake)
Substitutes: 12.Kevin Cooper 14.Nigel Brake 15.Jamie Baxter 16.Shane Graham 17.Gareth Williams

Goalscorers:

Ringmer - Beeston(88)

Horsham - Rook (57), Myall (65), Cooper (77)

Attendance: 81