John Maggs was encouraged by this latest performance by his side, despite watching them fall to a third defeat on the spin against a Wealdstone side for whom victory moved them in to the Ryman Premier Division play-off places. Ryan Ashe was the architect of Horsham’s downfall with both goals, taking his tally to 13 for the season, but Maggs felt that his side should have been awarded a late penalty that would have earned them a deserved share of the spoils.

“I can’t knock that performance. The attitude was spot on, the work rate was good, and it was much, much better than on Saturday. We certainly deserved something from the game, even one of the Wealdstone people said that, so I’m reasonably happy despite the result. We were playing against probably the strongest side outside Dartford but I felt we matched them for long spells. We scored straight from the kick-off but they came right back at us and hit the woodwork and had one cleared off the line but it was good, quick, end-to-end stuff after that. We missed a couple of good chances and could have been 3-0 up but then we gave the ball away and they scored just before half-time, which was a big blow. The last quarter of an hour we really got at them and I felt that they were running out of steam while we were getting stronger. We had a good shout for handball at the end but it didn’t go our way. The defence was absolutely outstanding, and I include my goalkeeper in that, and Steve Davies had a really good game just in front of them so we will go in to Saturday’s match with Dartford full of confidence still, despite the defeat.”

Grosvenor Vale was one of only a handful of Ryman Premier venues to escape a postponement, on a freezing December night, but it was the Wealdstone defence that was caught cold as the Hornets made an instant impact by scoring within seconds of the kick-off. Attacking down the steady slope, Lee Carney moved the ball forward to Alex Haddow who got the better of his man and reached the by-line before cutting the ball across for Pat Harding to tap in one the quickest goals ever recorded in the Ryman Premier League, timed at just 12 seconds. The Stones responded well to the setback, though, and nearly forced an equaliser just 2 minutes later through man of the match Ashe who collected a rebounded shot from on loan Billy Gibson and rattled the underside of Craig Bradshaw’s crossbar.

Callum Martin was sent racing clear into the penalty area and was about to put his foot through the ball when Mark Knee slid in and crucially blocked his shot to keep the Hornets ahead and then Horsham showed that they were still on top in the game when Carney instigated a smart move with a pass through to Pat Harding. Although slightly overhit, the former Eastbourne man showed strength and ability in keeping possession of the ball to ultimately set up a chance for Haddow who took the ball down well but blazed his left footed shot high and wide into the gardens behind the goal.

Horsham's next attack caught the Stones rearguard napping but Claude Seanla's optimistic shot, which looked to be heading wide, was easily pounced upon by Wealdstone keeper Luke Woods, low down to his left. Chris O’Leary then rose well and headed Ashe's corner towards the far corner of the goal but Bradshaw stretched to push his effort round the post.

Wealdstone drew level, just before the break, when referee Mellor turned down appeals for a foul against Steve Davies, and the Stones' own calls for a penalty, before the ball found its way through to Greg Ngoyi who squared the ball across for the unmarked Ashe to tap in from close range.

H/T Wealdstone 1 – 1 Horsham

The Stones came out and looked determined to take advantage of a surprisingly lacklustre start to the second half from their visitors and began applying constant pressure on the Hornets defence. Ngoyi took advantage of a lot of space to turn inside the penalty area, after Ben Andrews took too long to clear the ball and conceded possession, but he misjudged how much time he actually had and Sam Page was across in time to snatch the ball from the Wealdstone front man and clear his lines.

Man of the match Ashe then swung in another corner, which again found O’Leary rising well, but this time Haddow was on the line to head the ball over for another corner. A slick Horsham move, which showed quick fire accurate passing ended in superb defending from Darren Locke who timed his challenge well to steal the ball off of Seanla who was shaping up to take his shot after a neat pass from Tony Nwachukwu. Horsham then tried again to retake the lead when Harding again showed good strength as he held the ball up to pass back to Seanla whose first time shot narrowly flew past the goal.

However Wealdstone took advantage of poor Horsham defending when Gibson slid in striker Callum Martin who squared the ball back across goal to find Ashe unattended in the 6 yard box for the second time in the game to tap the ball into an empty net. Jack Page nearly drew the scores level with his first touch of the game but his screaming long range effort drifted narrowly wide of the far post and the substitute was on hand in defence after Wealdstone broke away through Danny Spendlane, after relieving themselves of Horsham’s pressure for an equalising goal, twice cutting out a shot to still keep the Hornets in the game. Bradshaw then spilled Callum Martins shot which was scrambled away by Anthony Acheampong.

Horsham had a late chance to equalise through Haddow but his low free-kick was charged down in the penalty area and appeals for handball were turned down by the referee who, that apart, had had an even game in charge of this Ryman Premier league clash.

NEXT MATCH: v Dartford (h) Saturday 19th December ko 3pm