HORSHAM 6 HERNE BAY 1

HORSHAM:
(First half)1.Alan Mansfield 2.Tom Graves 3.Nigel Brake 4.Eddie French 5.Gary Cook 6.Ali Bouchamama (Mingle) 7.Lee Carney 8.Azdine Bouchamama (Westcott) 9.Lee Farrell 10.Chamal Fenelon 11.Gary Charman Subs: John Westcott, Lewis Taylor, Jacob Mingle, Andy Howard, Dave Labranche, Rob Frankland (Second half) 1.Alan Mansfield (Frankland) 2.Matthew Miles (Myall) 3.Matt Geard 4.Gary Cook 5.Andy Howard 6.Jacob Mingle 7.Lewis Taylor 8.John Westcott 9.Dave Labranche 10.Chamal Fenelon (Wright) 11.Shane Graham Subs: Stuart Myall, Dean Wright, Rob Frankland
Scorers: Farrell (29), Mingle (36), Cook (40), Taylor pen (68), Fenelon (71), Wright

HERNE BAY:
1.Jack Delo 2.Toby Roy 3.Sean Bremner 4.Andy Foster 5.Aaron Burnett 6.Allan Scott 7.Ben Brown 8.Rhys Lawson 9.Luke Harvey 10.Aaron Firth 11.Reggie Oliver Subs: Dave Ward, Ross Brown, Lee McGarron, Michael Green, Lee Thomas
Scorers: Firth pen (48)

reporter: Jim Bravery

Horsham boss John Maggs had a 22 man squad assembled at the ground for this pre-season friendly against Kent Premier League Herne Bay and he got to play all of them, only trialist Gary Cook playing the whole game against his old team mates. Maggs formed his two teams before kick off with further trialists, such as midfield brothers Azdine and Ali Bouchamama, alongside the more familiar faces.

Gary Charman began the match in lively fashion despite having missed a lot of pre season training due to holiday and it was he who carved out the first real chance, dinking inside the full back and sending a deft chip towards the far top corner that just cleared the bar to evoke memories of his match winning strike at Ashford last season. The Hornets defence conceded a silly foul on the edge of the box that gave Aaron Firth a chance to open the scoring for the visitors but, although he bent the ball round the wall, it also went the wrong side of the upright. On the quarter hour mark, Lee Carney burst through the defence but, with the supporters expecting him to unleash a shot, he unselfishly pulled the ball back into Lee Farrell’s path only for a defender's foot to just beat the striker to the ball. Farrell and Charman then set each other up with chances, the former’s shot being well saved by Jack Delo while Charman’s effort went wide of the upright. Firth’s firmly struck free kick was well held by Alan Mansfield to give the home bench a timely reminder that the visitors were here to make a game of it. Nigel Brake made a couple of purposeful runs down the left but his crosses were just too good for defence and attack to turn them into goals.

John Maggs, clearly feeling there was a lack of creativity from the centre of the park, made a double substitution just before the half hour mark by taking off the Bouchamama brothers and replacing them with John Westcott and Jacob Mingle and the change reaped immediate dividends when Carney knocked a ball into Westcott’s path and the winger’s cross found Tom Graves in the box. His header looked goalbound but came out off the inside of the post straight to the lurking Farrell who made no mistake, hitting the ball into the net to give the Hornets the lead with 29 minutes on the clock. The goal seemed to fire Horsham up and, almost straight from the restart, Carney was firing in a shot on target from Charman‘s cross but this time Delo got everything behind it. Charman seemed certain to home in on goal a few moments later but was hauled back by Toby Roy at the expense of a free kick, Carney’s direct kick headed out for a corner by Sean Bremner with the goalkeeper beaten.

With Carney and Mingle in charge of midfield it was only a matter of time before the visitors' defence would be prised open again and when the very lively Chamal Fenelon, who the club thought had gone to seek pastures new, found himself in a free position wide on the left he cut inside the line of defenders across the penalty area only to have his legs taken from beneath him as he shaped to shoot. Referee Craig Cox's decision to only award a free kick right on the edge of the box made little difference to Mingle who rifled an unstoppable shot into the top corner to give the home side a two goal cushion on 36 minutes.

Within 4 minutes, the first half scoring was completed with Brake escaping the attentions of Roy with a surging run down the wing and hitting a perfect left footed cross to the far post for skipper Eddie French to head the ball back into the centre where the unlikely figure of fellow defender Cook was on hand to volley his shot past the exposed Delo. The teams went into the break with the home side holding a commanding 3-0 lead and looking good value for it.

H/T: Horsham 3 Herne Bay 0

Before the second half could begin, a team sheet of changes was passed to announcer Mark Barrett to read out. The yellow and green strip was now changed to all white and, apart from Mansfield, Fenelon, Mingle, Cook and Westcott, the rest of the personnel - subs included - had changed. Herne Bay also made a couple of changes themselves although having fewer players available were going to play a roll on roll off policy.

With so many changes it was obvious the home side would take longer to get into the tempo of the first half and Firth, one of the visitors' better performers, could count himself very unlucky when he looked up and noticed Mansfield off his line just five minutes after the interval. What seemed like the perfect chip saw the ball bounce back in to play via the crossbar and the same player was thwarted again, shortly after, when the backpedalling Mansfield arched himself backwards to somehow finger tip the ball over the bar. From the corner that was cleared amidst a goal mouth scramble, Firth engaged in a tangle with Matt Geard that resulted in Mr Cox giving the pair a stiff lecture. Firth was finally rewarded for his endeavours when another strong run saw the Herne Bay man enter the Horsham penalty area from where his goalbound shot struck the arm of Lewis Taylor and the striker made it 3 goals in 3 games, emphatically beating Mansfield from 18 yards to give the visitors hope of salvaging something from the game. Yet it was the home team that stepped up a gear, Taylor outpacing the retreating Bremner to square a beautiful pass into Fenelon’s path but the striker took too long with his shot and the ball was blocked and cleared.

Shane Graham was making his first appearance of the season and showed that he has not lost any of his pace, twice outpacing the defenders to work his way into the box for a shooting chance, the second foray tempting a defender into a foul and Mr Cox evened up the penalty tally to enable Taylor to step up and bury his effort to the 'keeper’s right and into the bottom corner to make the score 4-1 in the 68th minute. It took just 3 minutes for the home side to extend the lead further after an excellent cross to the far post from Geard had been knocked back by Westcott for Fenelon to open his Horsham account with a shot past Delo. Graham produced a lovely pass to set up Fenelon seconds later but this time he blazed his shot high and wide when it looked easier to score. Fenelon's work was done and Maggs gave Dean Wright a run out  in place of the big striker and, within 2 minutes, he added the finishing touch to score his first senior goal for the club - albeit a little fortuitously. Stuart Myall, who had come on at the same time as Wright in place of Matthew Miles, (a trialist full back from Sutton’s Youth team) found himself in the way of a solid clearance and the ball rebounded off the surprised full-back and invitingly into Wright’s path who finished well to give a final scoreline of 6-1.

With a couple of minutes to go, the biggest cheer of the evening came when the popular figure of Rob Frankland ran out onto the pitch to take over from Alan Mansfield and he had a couple of clearances to make before Mr Cox brought the game to an end.

NEXT MATCH: v East Grinstead (a) Saturday 4th August ko 3.00pm