The Hornets started cautiously against a very young looking Wick side, that went into this match behind an unbeaten eight match run. Wick have normally done well in this competition and were determined they would not be overawed by their illustrious opponents. Early passages of play saw few chances created, a couple of corners to both sides was the nearest anyone got to setting up a chance to shoot. A Lewis Taylor corner on the left found Tom Graves' head but his effort didn’t trouble home stopper Anthony Ender. The first real chance fell to the Hornets after twenty one minutes. Lee Farrell, who had received a good through ball from Ian Payne, homed in on goal only to be held back just outside the penalty area and Stuart Myall’s first time effort from the free-kick struck the outside of the post.

Five minutes later, a telling cross into the box by Yinka Salaam was only partially headed away by Ben Torode and, as the ball came back into the box, it seemed to strike Paul Jones on the arm. The referee awarded the kick but pointed to the edge of the box instead of giving a penalty, Simon Austin’s low shot through the wall was superbly saved by Ender at full stretch to his right. Wick almost caused the shock of the evening when Tom Manton cut inside from the left and unleashed a great shot that brought an equally good save from Friday night’s hero Paul Seuke at the expense of a corner. A couple of wild clearances depleted the spare ball count as they sailed onto the nearby rail track and, when a third one ended up the same way, they were left playing with only the ball on the pitch and a couple of spare balls were swiftly inflated rather than having the game abandoned.

Salaam was causing some concern to the home defence with his runs down the right wing but he needed attention after colliding with Phillip Turner before being able to continue and while this was going on, Myall was replaced after holding his hamstring with Kevin Hemsley coming on in his place. Taylor produced a good ball to the far post in the thirty third minute, picking out Farrell, and the exposed Torode was left with three yellow and Green shirts around him. Farrell went to the goal line and pulled a good left footed pass across the face of goal for the unmarked Gary Charman to slot into the empty net for a one nil lead.

Horsham then seemed to take their foot off the pedal and allowed the home side to dominate the remainder of the first half. Seuke had to be alert when the strong right foot of Manton almost caught him by surprise, he was only able to push the ball into the air, relying on a team mate to head clear. This was followed by a double effort by Julian Curnow that saw the Hornets 'keeper at his best. From another Wick corner, Seuke was left in a heap on the ground after Dominic Shepherd’s stray boot had caught the brave 'keeper in the face. The treatment lasted for several minutes before the big man was able to continue. With half time approaching, a fantastic cross saw Shepherd somehow head wide of an open goal in what might have been a turning point in the match. After Salaam was crudely tackled by Manton, prompting a stern lecture from referee Frank Meilack, there was just time for the highly rated Scott Murfin to shoot wide when well placed.

H/T Horsham 1 Wick 0

Horsham made one change at half time bringing on Nigel Brake in place of Andy Howard, the centre back getting half a game after being sidelined with his foot injury. It didn’t take long before the Hornets doubled their lead when a good breakaway down the right by Salaam produced a good centre into the box that found the head of Austin, the ball rebounding back off of Ender’s hands straight to the striker who this time made no mistake, crashing his shot into the roof of the net.

The Hornets then enjoyed a dominant spell of fifteen minutes that resulted in goal attempts by Farrell, Taylor and Austin after approach work involving Salaam and Charman. Wick never gave up and created a couple of half chances themselves. Leading scorer Shepherd forced Seuke into a full length save and, moments later, the same player headed goalwards only to find the 'keeper saving that effort as well. Turner and Jones saw shots flying over the bar while, at the other end, a delicate chip by Farrell caught the 'keeper off of his line only to see it land the wrong side of the post.