It took a while in coming but Horsham picked up their first cup victory of the season with this well deserved success over Sutton United in an entertaining Championship Manager Cup 2nd round tie. Instant exits from each of the FA Cup, FA Trophy and Senior Cup had proved a major disappointment for the club and its supporters who had become accustomed to knockout success in at least 2 of the competitions in recent seasons and, although the newly sponsored Isthmian League Cup might not feature too highly on the list of everyone's priorities this season, it provided further hope that the Hornets may just have begun to emerge from a dismal October as they made it 3 wins on the bounce.

On a night in which supporters struggled to see the far side of the ground due to the thick fog that hung low across the dewy pitch, the Hornets gained deserved reward for an enterprising performance that saw them recover from conceding an early goal to take control by the midway stage of the first half and, with better luck, might even have equalled the 4 goal tally registered against Cray Wanderers at the weekend. Alex Haddow's stunning volley, and a tap-in from Jack Page, ensured that Horsham would turn around with an advantage at the break and only the width of the post prevented the luckless Pat Harding from extending the lead in the second half while Claude Seanla's late effort was ruled out for offside.

Haddow joined Gary Charman in returning to the side after suspension and, with Mark Knee out with a chest injury, James Nicholls made only his second start of the season at full-back. But the main talking point concerned the goalkeeping position where player/coach Rob Frankland was forced to don the gloves after boss John Maggs had been unable to secure the signing of Worthing's Alan Mansfield earlier in the day. Discussions remain ongoing with the former Hornets number one but, for this match, Frankland turned back the years to produce a number of fine saves in an assured display that saw him limping and unable to kick the ball during the final half an hour following a late challenge from Jerson dos Santos.

Sutton showed a multitude of changes to Saturday's line-up, with just James Hawes and Bradley Thomas retained from that which started the FA Cup 1st round tie at Hereford, but there was a familiar face for Horsham fans as Stefan Cox lined up against the side with whom he had a brief and unspectacular spell in 2008.

Both sides looked lively during the opening exchanges but it was the Us who struck first when a loose pass from Harding presented Anthony Joseph with the ball on the edge of the Horsham penalty area and he teed up Danny Phillips to fire past Frankland with just 5 minutes gone. Harding almost made amends at the other end of the pitch when his tenacity earned his side a corner from which a quick exchange of passes between Lee Carney and Jack Page saw the former strike a low shot that was well saved by Paul Smith, the Sutton goalkeeper.

Frankland prevented the visitors from doubling their lead when Elliott Mitchell sent Cox clear but the 'keeper spread himself well to block the shot and Nicholls completed the clearance before Charman threatened at the other end when a fine Horsham move ended with his first time volley going narrowly wide from Delando Smith's deep cross. Anthony Acheampong should have done better than to send a free header wide of the target from Carney's 20th minute free-kick, before play was held up to enable Haddow and Charman to exchange shirts after it was pointed out that each was playing in the other's number.

Clearly inspired by now sporting the traditional centre-forward's number nine upon his back, Haddow lit up the match almost immediately by sending a stunning 20 yard volley in to the top corner of the net to level the scores on 22 minutes. Encouraged by this, the Hornets continued to press and the quick actions of Harding and Charman created another goal, Jack Page's second in successive games, when they chased down a back pass to Paul Smith who dallied and miscued his attempted clearance in to the path of Page who had the simple task of pushing the ball in to the back of the unguarded net.

Page had the home side's next attempt on goal, a confident strike from 25 yards that went straight at Smith, but Frankland was called in to action again before the break when he saved well at his near post to repel a free-kick from dos Santos and Cox's wayward finish, after a 3 man move involving the one-time Lewes man, dos Santos and Phillips, ensured that the Hornets took a 1 goal lead in to the break.

H/T Horsham 2 Sutton united 1

The sides returned to the field after the interval with the unrelenting misty conditions hinting that the match might be forced in to a premature conclusion, although fortunately those fears were unfounded, but even the reduced visibility failed to hide Steve Perkins' indiscretion when he was cautioned for using an elbow in a challenge with Carney with the second half just 8 minutes old.

Carney was, once again, the player who was knitting the Horsham side together and a good move ended with his well-timed pass finding Haddow in space on the left from where he dinked a cross just beyond the far post. Skipper Sam Page performed 2 top class blocks as the Us looked to make an early impression upon the Hornets back four, throwing his body in the way of shots from Joseph and Phillips, but Haddow was only a whisker away from making it 3-1 when Harding and Charman combined down the right for the former to send in a teasing cross.

Paul Smith just about kept out Charman's angled drive, pushing the ball away where it was eventually cleared for a corner, in what was Charman's last contribution to the evening's events before being replaced by Seanla. The substitute, who must surely list Sutton among his favourite opponents after netting 4 goals in 2 games against the Gander Green Lane outfit, should have made an immediate impact but he was taken by surprise when Carney's corner was missed by Sam Page and he failed to convert at the back post.

Maggs made his second, and final, substitution of the night when he replaced Delando Smith with Tony Nwachukwu, withdrawing Jack Page in to the defence to allow the young replacement to take his place on the right of midfield. Cox almost caught Frankland by surprise with a snapshot from distance but the veteran 'keeper got down well to make a clean save. However, in attempting to clear an underhit backpass in Sutton's next attack, Frankland was caught late by Cox and required treatment before continuing in some discomfort for the remainder of the match. Cox was booked.

Tommy Kavanagh entered the fray in place of Mitchell on 65 minutes but the switch failed to alter the pattern of the match as the Hornets continued to look the side most likely to score again and they almost did so when Carney went through on goal only to make a clever reverse pass in to the path of Harding who was just about denied by Paul Smith.

Acheampong became the next to enter referee Cook's notebook for pulling back Joseph in a dangerous position and, when the free-kick was promptly cleared downfield, Harding raced through on goal but just failed to get enough height on his attempted lob and Smith was able to make the save on the edge of his penalty area. Harding was having no luck at all and, when a strong tackle by Steve Sargent in the middle of the field allowed Harding a clear run on goal,  the former Eastbourne Borough man could only watch in frustration as his left footed drive thumped back off the post with Smith beaten.

Sutton threatened to capitalise on their good fortune when a quick break looked destined to end with a strike on goal from Phillips until the long legs of Sam Page came to the rescue with a perfectly timed sliding tackle. With time ebbing away, the Us replaced the ineffective Cox with Daniel Harding but it was Horsham's sub, Nwachukwu, who shone when a good piece of skill enabled him to get the better of his marker and send in a great cross in to the box for Seanla to score past Smith but the Frenchman had wandered fractionally beyond the last man and the goal was ruled out.

With the match preparing to enter 3 minutes of additional time, a deflection off Sam Page almost spoiled the evening for the Hornets as the ball was sent spinning towards the far post but the outstanding skipper deservedly escaped what would have been an unfortunate blot on his copybook as the ball was cleared and Horsham were in to the hat for the next round.

NEXT MATCH: v Waltham Abbey (h) Saturday 14th November ko 3pm