HORSHAM 5 LEYTON 1

HORSHAM:
1.Paul Seuke 2.Tom Graves 3.Matt Geard 4.Eddie French 5.Kevin Hemsley 6.Simon Austin (Rayner) 7.Jacob Mingle (Hawthorne) 8.Lewis Taylor 9.Lee Farrell 10.Chamal Fenelon 11.Gary Charman Subs: 12.Mark Hawthorne 14.Steve Davies 15.Yinka Salaam 16.Ben Rayner 17.Alan Mansfield
Scorers: Taylor (9), Mingle (52), Austin (57), Farrell (60,90)

LEYTON:
1.Sam Tanner 2.Jack Dallender 3.Aaron Ramos Gonzales 4.Ben Gracey 5.Olawale Ojelabi 6.Frederick Okyere 7.Andrew Thomas 8.John Bricknell (Bates) 9.Marvin McCoy (Luke) 10.Ricky Hazard 11.Roderick Osei-Owusu Subs: 12.Junior Luke 14.Kareen Imbert 15.Terry Bates 16.Victor Renner 17.Shaun Maher
Scorers: Imbert (78)

Reporter: Mark Wells
Photographs: John Lines

In a season that has already provided more than its fair share of fabulous memories and golden goals, Jacob Mingle added to the collection with a wonder strike that lit up this routine victory against the division's basement side. With the club continuing to enjoy an upturn in attendances after their high profile FA Cup run, with a proliferation of young fans, the talk in the local school playgrounds on Monday morning is likely to include that of Mingle rather than Wayne Rooney or Cesc Fabregas after the talented Hornets midfielder scored a goal that is unlikely to have been bettered in the 104 years of Queen Street's existence. Collecting a pass from Lee Farrell, 25 yards from goal, Mingle flicked the ball up and hit a volley so sweet that, had Leyton's goalkeeper/captain Sam Tanner not been compelled to have tried to save, he would surely have stood back in admiration as the ball dipped under the crossbar and into the back of the net.

The goal was a tonic for boss John Maggs who had seen his side struggle to make their possession count against a visiting side whose eleven match losing run had left them firmly rooted to the bottom of the table but who were looking for an unlikely league double over the Hornets, having won 4-3 at Lea Bridge Road back in September. The bruising midweek draw with Ramsgate had taken its toll on Maggs' side, leaving him without the services of Lee Carney (ankle), Nigel Brake (knee) and Andy Howard (groin) and, when Stuart Myall went down with a kidney infection on Thursday, Maggs hastily busied himself in the transfer market to bring in three new players to bolster his squad. Former Horsham Player of the Year Mark Hawthorne agreed to re-sign, after spending the past few months training with the club following a long term injury, and he was joined on the bench for this match by ex-Carshalton Athletic midfielder Ben Rayner. One time Millwall trainee Jason Ward's signature was acquired too late for inclusion but he is likely to feature in Tuesday's squad for the trip to Billericay.

The Hornets signalled their intentions from the start and only a superb last-ditch tackle by Olawale Ojelabi prevented Chamal Fenelon from surely giving his side a first minute lead. The linesman's flag denied Lewis Taylor from claiming the opening goal, just two minutes later, when he turned Tom Graves' excellent cross into the net only for the ball to have been adjudged to have crossed the byeline first. Another fine block by Ben Gracey on Fenelon, inside the six yard box, kept Horsham at bay but a loss of concentration from the Leyton defence gave Taylor the simplest of chances to put the hosts ahead after nine minutes. A clever exchange of passes between Mingle and Gary Charman set up Simon Austin to pick out the unmarked Taylor inside the penalty area and his header gave Tanner no chance from just seven yards out.

An apparent trip by Jack Dellender on Matt Geard inside the Leyton penalty area went unpunished and, a minute later, Mingle curled an effort wide of Tanner's left hand post as the Hornets looked to emphasise their early superiority. Eddie French headed wide from Taylor's corner, Taylor's shot was blocked from Austin's low cross and a decent move involving Farrell, Fenelon, Mingle and Charman saw the latter's shot bring an uncomfortable save from Tanner as the hosts laid siege to their opponents' goal. Austin was the next to test the Leyton skipper when he ran twenty yards unchallenged before sending a low drive wide of the target  and another low ball from Farrell caused pandemonium in the area as Charman and Fenelon were both denied by some desperate defending.

The opening half hour had failed to produce a single effort on goal by the visitors and home fans were bemoaning their side's inability to finish them off as Austin wasted a good opening by firing wide from 25 yards. Encouraged by their hosts' profligacy, Leyton called Paul Seuke in to action for the first time on 33 minutes when Marvin McCoy sent a right foot shot arrowing towards the far corner only for the goalkeeper to dive full length and clutch the ball spectacularly in mid-air. A fine challenge from Geard prevented Roderick Osei-Owusu from troubling Seuke again but Austin should have doubled the home side's advantage when a defensive slip left him one on one with Tanner who stood up well to turn the Horsham man's shot on to the post and behind for a corner. The home side's eagerness to find a second goal saw them frequently fall foul of the linesman's flag as they strayed beyond the last defender and it was the visitors who might have grabbed an unlikely equaliser when Kevin Hemsley was forced to clear Andy Thomas' cross-shot off off his own goal-line from Leyton's best move of the half. From the resulting corner, Gracey could only find the side netting from an acute angle and Aaron Ramos Gonzales' booking, for a foul on Austin, was the last action of a decidedly one-sided half.

H/T Horsham 1 Leyton 0

There was no respite for the division's whipping boys after the resumption with a stretching Austin turning Charman's cross against the post from Horsham's first attack but Leyton gave as good as they got for the opening ten minutes with French, on his 350th appearance, atoning for some slack play by recovering to clear from the feet of Osei-Owusu. Their resistance was broken, though, by a piece of brilliance from Mingle that brought the ground to it's feet. Farrell provided the outlet for Geard's forward pass and when he played the ball back inside, the former Ashford Town man flicked the ball up and gave Tanner no chance with a spectacular volley that dipped underneath the crossbar for a sensational goal.

Leyton almost hit back immediately but Seuke was quickly off his line to collect ahead of McCoy and, after Fenelon had blasted over and sub Kareen Imbert had fired wide after dispossessing French, the Hornets extended their lead with a goal that was gifted them by the Leyton 'keeper. Graves' cross saw Charman climb highest at the far post to send in a header that Tanner turned away from the post at full stretch but, when Farrell returned the loose ball in to the path of Mingle, the visiting captain couldn't hold the weak shot and the ball was knocked in to the open net with Fenelon later claiming to have made the telling touch ahead of Austin.

Ramos Gonzales' shot drew a comfortable save from Seuke but three goals became four, two minutes later, when Farrell finished off a fine Horsham move when Seuke's long goal-kick was helped on from Fenelon to Taylor, and then to Austin whose his first time ball was despatched at the far post by Farrell for his second goal in three games. Graves might have made it four in eight minutes when he headed Taylor's free-kick over the top as Horsham looked rampant and Leyton's frustrations at the thought of another heavy defeat were evident in Ricky Hazard's 66th minute booking for a wild lunge on the ubiquitous Austin.

A double substitution, fifteen minutes from the end, saw Hawthorne and Rayner replace Mingle and Austin while, for Leyton, Junior Luke came on for McCoy and the visitors were soon celebrating a consolation goal through Imbert. Tanner's agility had spectacularly denied Taylor after the midfielder's volley, at the end of a menacing run and cross from Charman, was tipped on to the post and Frederick Okyere, the pick of the Leyton side, began a break out of of defence that saw Imbert and Luke combine to send the former through to shrug off the attentions of Hemsley and stab the ball past Seuke for a good finish.

Another booking, this time for Dallender's foul on Fenelon, showed that the visitors were determined to give no quarter as they tried to keep the scoreline respectable but Horsham upped the tempo in the closing stages and might have added more than the one further goal claimed by Farrell in the final minute. Farrell himself shot over the top from a pass by Rayner, Taylor ran out of space with team-mates in attendance on each side and Fenelon was inches away from bursting the net when he charged in on goal unchallenged only to send in a blistering shot that  shaved the far post.

Luke's attempted cross ballooned behind off of Taylor's outstretched boot to earn the visitors a corner at the death but a good catch from Seuke enabled him to quickly assess his options before launching a kick downfield that was misread by Terry Bates, the ball bouncing off the substitute's back for Farrell to race on and finish well with a left foot shot across the 'keeper. There was still time for Fenelon to burst through and shoot wide while only Farrell will know how he failed to go home with the match ball when Geard's precise pass put the striker in the clear but, with only Tanner to beat, he blazed the ball high over the crossbar.

John Maggs might not have been dancing a jig of joy at the end but he will have been pleased with how his side coped with the loss of Carney, Brake, Howard and Myall but will know that his players will be in for a far trickier test with Tuesday's trip to Billericay.

NEXT MATCH: v Billericay Town (a) Tuesday 5th February ko 7.45pm