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reporter: Jim Bravery
Photographs: John Lines
 For
the second week in a row, Horsham made their supporters sweat before
securing the victory that brings FA Cup first round football to Queen
Street for the first time in 41 years. 3-0 up and apparently cruising,
the Hornets allowed Chippenham to grab two late goals that set up an
oh so tense finale for their large travelling support for whom divine
intervention appeared to have won the day.
I was privileged
to have been among the
8000 who were crammed into the ground back on November 26th, 1966 when
high-flying Swindon Town, with their tricky winger Don Rogers and
Welsh international Mel Nurse, ran out 3-0 winners but Chippenham were
unable to repeat their county neighbour's achievements despite the
backing of their biggest crowd of the season.
Horsham have fallen at the
final hurdle twice under John Maggs so it was a case of third time
lucky for the likeable manager after the disappointments of Yeovil
(2000) and Team Bath (2002) and, with a home tie against Blue Square
Conference South Maidenhead United to come, he will feel that he has a
real chance of creating history by taking the club through to the
second round for the first time.
Gary Charman, a star of both of those previously unsuccessful games,
was forced to sit this match out with a groin injury and, with Nigel
Brake suspended, it meant a major reshuffle to the side with the left
flank severely understrength so Maggs brought in the the experienced
Stuart Myall at left back with Lee Carney starting off wide left.
Chippenham also had selection problems with skipper Iain Harvey and
Sean Seavill sidelined through injury, leaving the average age of Adie
Mings' side at just 22 years.
Before referee Kevin Johnson could get the game under way, both teams
and supporters were asked to give a minutes applause for Ken Jeffries,
a lifelong Chippenham fan who had died during the week.
Horsham kicked off playing down the slope in the first half with a
number
 of
home fans preferring not to change ends and staying put to mingle with
the Lardies who found their own positions behind 'keeper Chris
Snoddy’s goal. In the opening few minutes, both sides tested each
other out with expansive passes across the width of the pitch but
neither goalkeeper had anything more than routine catches to make as
the teams cancelled each other out. Myall hit a superb long cross to
the far post that John Westcott forced the home defence into conceding
a corner and Simon Austin managed to get a header in with his back to
goal but Snoddy made a comfortable catch.
Home skipper Kye Holly showed his class when he wrong footed the
Hornets defence with a great reverse pass to the lively Aaron Cornwall
on the left flank and only the quick actions of Tom Graves prevented
the ball from getting into the box. The home side were putting some
good moves together and dominated play for several minutes but,
although they looked dangerous, the final effort was either wide of
Alan Mansfield’s goal or dogged defence cleared the ball to safety.
Leading scorer Jake Reid wasted two good opportunities, putting them
both wide when well placed. One rare sortie at the other end found
Lewis Taylor breaking away at speed, his accurate pass into Westcott’s
path saw the winger delivering a brilliant cross into the box and
Taylor, who had continued his run, just failed to get a touch with
Snoddy rooted to his line. Kes Metitiri had a great chance to put the
home side ahead in the 15th minute when a slide rule pass from Ross
Adams got the big defender in past Eddie French but he succeeded only
in hitting his effort wide.
 Chances
were at a premium and Carl Rook tried a long range effort that ended
up clearing the bar by a country mile. The Bluebirds' earlier pressure
was now under control and the Horsham midfield were beginning to
control the game. Rook’s header, from Westcott’s cross, failed to
trouble the 'keeper but when Austin tried a long range effort, Snoddy
made heavy weather of the save, almost palming the ball into his own
net in the slippery conditions. During a Chippenham attack, Dave Pratt
suffered a head injury but the referee played good advantage, allowing
Reid to home in on the Hornets goal where a combination of French and
Kevin Hemsley averted the danger before clearing the ball into touch
so that the trainer could attend to the injured player. Within a
minute, Rook was also in need of attention as a stray boot caught him
on the side of the head. Jacob Mingle conceded a free kick just
outside the Hornets penalty area but, fortunately for the visitors,
Holly’s direct shot was weak in execution and Mansfield made an easy
save. Rook almost gave the Hornets the lead in the 38th minute but his
first time effort, from another superb cross from Westcott, shaved the
outside of Snoddy’s left hand upright.
With half-time approaching, Horsham forced a corner on the left.
Carney’s ball in was cleared by Metitiri but, in the challenge with
Rook, the two players clashed heads and the unfortunate defender came
off the worse, continuing to receive attention from the physio as the
players trooped off for the half-time break.
H/T: Chippenham Town 0
Horsham 0
 Talk
amongst the Horsham supporters during the break was that the game was
there for the taking and the non-appearance of Metitiri for the second
half further strengthened that belief. With substitute Ollie Price on
in place of the Bluebirds' outstanding defender, the Hornets took full
advantage of the reorganisation to strike within the opening minute of
the half. Carney took possession of the ball out on the left and,
ignoring the presence of Adams and Lye, advanced to the edge of
the penalty area before looking up and laying off a perfectly weighted
ball into Taylor's
path and the midfielder's right boot connected a split second before
defender Mark Badman's to send the ball squirming off the
defender's foot to give Snoddy no chance as it flew in off the
upright and nestled in the back of the net to send the travelling fans
behind the goal absolutely crazy.
Reid had a golden opportunity to level matters, five minutes later,
but was unable to control a great pass from his skipper and Lye also
fed the striker a great pass only to see his run in on goal thwarted
by an astute intervention by Taylor who was back helping out the
defence. The game was becoming more open since the goal and more
chances were being created with Carney seeing more of the ball in the
second half and he opened up the defence with an excellent pass from
left to right, putting Westcott in the clear, but his dangerous cross
was well defended by Dale Peckham who was finding it harder to cope
without his partner Metitiri alongside. Cornwall sent Pratt through on
goal but Graves stopped his run with a good tackle and, moments later,
Pratt was replaced by Luke Gullick with 35 minutes to go. Almost
immediately, the home side thought they had scored when a long hopeful
ball into the box should have been taken by Mansfield but the ball
fell invitingly for Lye who tried to lob the ball into the net only
for the covering figure of Hemsley to rescue the Hornets by heading
off the line.
 As
so often happens, a close call at one end results in a break at the
other and that's exactly what took place here as Horsham doubled their
lead with Carney again the provider. Some brilliant one touch passing
between him and Taylor had split the defence wide open and the
former's pass into the six yard box was met first time by
Austin
who gave the exposed Snoddy no chance. Again, the travelling faithful
were in jubilant mood, their celebrations led by supporter Dave Clark
whose appearance as Christ the Saviour in white smock and false beard
had the players in stitches as they made their way back to the centre
circle.
Within just twelve minutes of the half-time interval, the Hornets had
secured a two goal lead and were as good as in the next round but,
with the home side now seriously wounded, they were not going to go
down without a fight and Mansfield had to produce a fantastic double
save to initially prevent Reid and Lye from from halving the deficit
The home bench took off Badman and introduced Sam Allison to add more
bite up front but, four minutes after the change, the Hornets grabbed
a third. With so many home players attacking, the defence was short on
cover and when Rook played a long pass to strike partner Austin out on
the left, he outpaced the defence to make inroads on the goal and, as
the defender committed himself to tackle, he cut the ball back across
the goalmouth for Rook
to put Horsham in dreamland in the 64th minute.
Horsham were well on top at this point but foolishly seemed to take
their foot off the gas and they were given a wake-up call when Adams
tried a long range effort that bounced off of Hemsley for a corner.
Allison and Gullick had added some pace to the game and were able to
get in behind the Hornets defence but several dangerous crosses flew
across the goalmouth without a foot or head to tuck them away. Reid
managed to get past Hemsley with fifteen minutes remaining but
Mansfield stood up to the striker to made an excellent save. Minutes
later, however, the 'keeper could only stand and watch as a corner by
Cornwall came into the box and, with the Horsham defence failing to
clear their lines, Holly chipped the ball back into the danger area
where Gullick
fired in an unstoppable shot to give the home team a glimmer of hope
with 12 minutes left.
The Bluebirds scout who had watched Horsham’s last match at Ramsgate
would have noted how they had buckled under late pressure to concede
two goals after taking an apparently unassailable lead and the message
from the home dug-out is sure to have been that if they were to apply
the same kind of pressure then they might still get something out of
this game in the eight minutes that remained.
Mansfield saved a header from Gullick whilst, at the other end,
Carney’s first time shot whistled just wide but, with five minutes
left, a speculative shot from Kevin
Halliday,
from a good twenty yards out, squirmed through Mansfield’s grasp to
end up in the back of the net to give the game an entirely different
complexion. But with so many of the home side's players now pushing
for the third goal, there were always going to be chances for the
Hornets and they almost increased their lead when both Mingle and
Carney had shots on goal charged down. Chippenham managed to force a
corner but an attempted over head kick by Reid was alleged to be
dangerous, the free kick relieving the pressure once more.
The fourth official decided there would be three minutes of injury
 time
to be played but, apart from French having to hack the ball into
touch, the remaining minutes ticked away as Horsham tried to play keep
ball in the corner. Westcott was crudely taken out by Halliday as he
realised that, without the ball, his team were not going to score and
seconds later Mr Johnson blew the final whistle to the relief of the
management, players and supporters who joined forces in the club house
for the draw. With the balls being drawn by the FA dignitaries, and
knowing that Horsham’s number was 72, ooh’s and aah’s greeted every
number in the seventies with the odd sigh when a big club was drawn
against someone else. Eventually a massive cheer filled the room as
the number 72 was pulled from the velvet bag but the anticipated home
tie against one of the 'big boys' failed to materialise as Conference
South Maidenhead United were given the task of stopping Horsham's cup
run with a visit to Queen Street in two weeks time.
Chippenham would have been incredibly disappointed at losing today but
their hospitality was superb, despite the Horsham supporters taking
over their clubhouse for a large part of the afternoon and, upon
leaving, we were wished a safe journey home and good luck in the next
round.
Lovely people, lovely club.
NEXT MATCH: v Witham Town (a)
Saturday
3rd November ko 3.00pm |
