Horsham have only themselves to blame for their impending midweek trek to Barton-Le-Clay after relinquishing a 4-1 lead against their Southern League opponents in a dramatic FA Trophy tie. Having fallen behind to Russell Bull's 7th minute opener, the Hornets hit back with a whirlwind blitz of 4 goals in 13 minutes to put themselves firmly in the driving seat only for Bull to score his second almost immediately to keep the visitors in the hunt. Horsham's defensive fallibilities returned after the break and, when Richard Pringle scored to make it 4-3 with 18 minutes remaining, the home fans were living on their nerves and their fears were justified in injury time when Gary Charman's handball resulted in his dismissal and a replay-earning penalty from Ricky Case.

Optimism was high ahead of the match that the Hornets could build on their midweek success over Maidstone United and make rare progress in a competition that had offered the club little cheer since its inception 35 years ago. It's 9 seasons since Horsham made it beyond the FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round but the first visit in 7 years of Barton Rovers, now plying their trade in the Midlands Division of the Zamaretto Southern League, provided the Hornets with what should arguably have been a straightforward task of at least equalling their achievements of the last  4 seasons. With just 2 wins to their name in all competitions, the Bedfordshire outfit were expected to provide moderate opposition for John Maggs' side but, having been dumped out of the Trophy by Witham Town and Cray Wanderers in consecutive campaigns, Maggs would have insisted that his side did not underestimate their lowly opponents.

There was an enforced change for the Hornets who saw Anthony Acheampong return after suspension in place of Ben Andrews who, himself was ruled out of the tie through an accumulation of bookings, while Russell Eldridge regained his place in the centre of midfield due to the unavailability of Alex Haddow.

But the hosts wasted little time in setting about their task and threatened to break the deadlock within the first minute when Eldridge's inswinging corner found Charman leaping highest to meet the ball but his downwards header was palmed away and scrambled behind for another corner. However, Horsham kept up their worrying inability to defend set-pieces and allowed Barton Rovers to take the lead when a Paul Andrews free kick found Bull unmarked in the area to head past a helpless Rob Tolfrey. To their credit, Maggs' men bounced back immediately and, when a Jack Lyons free kick found Charman in front of his marker, Horsham's long serving winger made no mistake this time by planting his header wide of Grant Beckwith and in to the bottom right hand corner to draw the scores level within a minute.

No more than 2 minutes later the Rovers goalkeeper was again picking the ball out of his own net as another Eldridge free kick was flicked on by Charman, the ball finding Sam Page in acres of space at the far post to lash the ball in with his left foot. It was a sensational opening to the game, with every attack seemingly turning into a goal, and the next move saw a superb team effort from Horsham as quick passing around the edge of the box panicked the visitors and Delando Smith produced a superbly weighted ball through the defence for Charman to cut inside and unselfishly square the ball to Claude Seanla who smashed the ball in from 6 yards.

The drama continued as the irrepressible Charman increased Horsham's lead further when Mark Knee's header cleared the Barton defence and he raced clear once again before unleashing a venomous left footed half volley that whistled past Beckwith and into the bottom right hand corner of the goal. However Barton showed that they wouldn’t be written off as Bull reduced the deficit in the visitors' next attack when he headed Joel Mason's cross past Tolfrey from close range.

Unsurprisingly the remainder of the half settled down, with neither side creating much in the way of goalscoring opportunities, and with the only noteworthy incidents coming in the form of cautions for Horsham's Sam Page and Barton's Bull and a rare appearance off the subs' bench for veteran defender Ian Payne, in place of the injured Knee.

H/T Horsham 4 – 2 Barton Rovers

The second half proved to be only a shadow of the first, with only a few half chances for Horsham, and the referee’s infuriating inability to let the game flow. A Barton free kick looked to have reduced the deficit  to 1 goal as it crept around the wall but Tolfrey was able to spring across his line and push the ball wide of the post. The Hornets continued to trouble Barton from set pieces, with the visitors struggling to deal with Charman's aerial prowess and, from one near post flick, Acheampong pounced inside the 6 yard box but his shot was wonderfully saved by Beckwith who made himself big and deflected the ball over the crossbar. This approach was favoured by the home side on a number of occasions throughout the second half, and they went close to claiming a 5th goal when Charman inexplicably put his header wide following a series of corners.

But it was Barton who got the next breakthrough and it would prove to give the game a nervy finish. Richard Pringle, a half-time replacement for Bull,  was allowed far too much time on the edge of the box to take control of the ball and, with the Horsham defenders admiring his fancy footwork, he turned and thumped the ball past Tolfrey.

Despite Barton's gallant efforts, it looked like Horsham were going to see the game out and book their place in the second qualifying round as the match entered injury time. However, with 92 minutes on the clock, Charman's otherwise excellent afternoon was spoiled when he was dismissed for handling Pringle's shot on the line and the visitors were awarded a penalty. Case confidently stepped up to place the ball in the back of the net and hand out the invitation to Maggs' side for the replay at Barton’s Sharpenhoe Road ground on Tuesday evening.

NEXT MATCH: v Barton Rovers (a) Tuesday 20th October ko 7.45pmb