Horsham 3-0

[Deleted]

After the 4-0 debarcle at Christmas and Horsham striving to get into the playoffs we went to Horsham YM with little expectation of a result. 29 travellers that I saw watched what the Hill can do if allowed to play.

A well deserved 3-0 win that showed what we can do when we don't go out to get a draw away form home.

The best goal came from LLoyd Skinner he forced his way through a couple of large defenders to get into the box and cracked a shot into the back of the net the goalie did get a hand on it but the power took it into the net.

Upfront Ashley and Gricey had a lot of service from wide men and mid-fielders coming forward. Ashley scored after a muck up on the edge of the box left him enough time to pass the ball past the goalie and run the ball across the box and tap into the unprotected net. When Joyce was moved forward halfway through the second half for the struggling Grice he added another dimension as he was holding the ball coming back to harass the defenders and mid-fielders. Ashley was tireless in his running much of which was effective, we won many balls when their defence was under pressure.

A bit light in mid-field again and when Lloyd Skinner limped off I was worried that YM would get back into the game. Bye, Skinner, Pullen and Pulling started with Joyce, Martin and Turner coming on as reserves. They worked hard and gave YM no time on the ball and showed that a light weight mid-field can be effective but they have to put in so much effort to keep it tight and still push forward.

At the back Cotton, Gainsford, Fogden and Piper were again strong and made the YM attack look ordinary, they kept shots to a minimum and YM ended up with taking long shots which most went horribly wide (well if your a YM supporter).

Andre looked a lot more positive than recent matches and was coming out quickly and less widely, he also was shouting and controlling the box.

This was an excellent team performance, trying to think who my man of the match could be and 6 stood out, but only just, so I've decided to make this a team award.

An excellent result, an excellent game and saw some real football played on the ground, and with pace and width, some quick passing and people able to hold the ball.

Gary Croydon was away on family duties.

[refsworstenemy]

Good to see we proved ourselves against Horsham. At Christmas they scored their first 2 goals totally against the run of play, and we were 2-0 down despite being at least equally as good as them, probably better. After that our heads went down and we conceded 2 more. It was a real shame because I thought the teams were equally matched. I voiced this at the time only to be laughed at by Horsham fans, as I think they were 3-0 up when I said it. I'm glad to see we reversed 3 of the goals and proved that I wasn't totally off my trolley to suggest we were as good as/better than YMCA after losing 4-0 to them!

Also good to see Andre's confidence is back. I was worried in the Tooting match that he was looking a bit nervous, but glad to see he hasn't, he's a great keeper and I think all the supporters are behind him.

[waspexile]

Excellent result! Stuck at work with wonderful weather ona bank Holiday Grrr.
Well done the lads.

[daveb]

good to see positive posts after what has been a good weekend. narrowly losing to tooting who brought some good support with them, thought the boys worked hard but couldn't peg back the early goal. this i believe set us up for a very good performance on monday against ymca winning 3-0 when all of the players worked hard for a good victory. but also we had the bulk of the support in the ground although it was a bank holiday weekend and the weather was fine everybody was there who should have been there except gary croydon! who had a much earned day off.

really looking forward to the next three home games where i hope we can turn in a perofmance to match our away form.

come on you yellows!!

[sponge]

A very good win by the sounds of it. Couldn't make it saturday as younger son was playing in his first 'mens' game.
A question for the regular watchers. Does this team look good enough to challenge for honours next season or do we need a couple of good signings in the close season ?. We do seem to come up slightly short against some of the better teams.

[refsworstenemy]

Personally I think we do have the personnel to challenge for honours. We have several talented individuals who may not be of the highest standard I have seen since I started watching the team, but are up there. The issue is more around team work and tactics. In the latter half of this season these things have improved, and hopefully will continue to improve.

When a team isn't in the top 5 or 6 it's easy to assume they need new players. I personally think this would be a mistake, and that the priority should be to get the current players working even better alongside each other. We may well be able to acquire some better individual players during the close season, but they would have the problem of having to integrate into a side.

This season the list of different players who have turned out for us is huge, just check the programme. I think this is where the problem lies. Recent good/better results have come because finally we have been able to see almost the same first 11 in every game. I think this has been the first season since I've started to watch BHTFC where I have got close to the last game of the season without learning some of the players names!

One contradiction I will make is that by signing a couple of other players we would be able to deepen the squad, which may be vital to challenge, but I think if the existing squad stuck around and remain injury free for a season we do have the potential to challenge for the league next season, especially when you look at how we have performed against some of the top teams in this league. I don't think it is an especially tough league, and we have even outplayed a lot of teams that we have lost to.

With some canny pre-season planning, I don't think it's unreasonable to think GC can take these boys to the league title next season. But if he doesn't, remember it's not the end of the world!