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Reporter: Richard Smith
I have travelled via many countries in my quest to find and watch a
good game of football however last night was the first time I have
ever gone to Wickers World the home of Southwick FC.
Southwick were founding members of the Sussex County League and came
into being in 1882, the same year as those other lofty giants QPR,
Burnley and Spurs, so the game could have been far more significant
than it was if the past 126 years had been shaped differently.
As it was, the game was a useful run out to allow the management to
cast an eye over any potential new signings and to test some members
of the Under 18’s to see if they could handle the step up in age and
surroundings.
The game marked the first team debuts of Rick Francis, Sam Ofoso and Ben Bissett. Alongside these three, Tom May and George Magnus also made
their debuts stepping up from the Under 18’s and forming the heart of
a very young (George is still not yet 16) central defensive
partnership.
It was encouraging to see first teamers Jason Ward, Lee Farrell
and Tom Graves in the crowd offering their support. It was also good
to see that the Horsham Chairman wasn’t perturbed by his surroundings
and was quite happy to carry his own white plastic chair to the half
way line to sit on. One hopes that he is still not frozen to it.
With the 60 odd crowd stirring themselves, the game kicked off with
Horsham attacking the (now named) railway end with the fog behind them
and coming in from the sides. Indeed the fog was going to linger for
most of the game and the passing trains proved on more than one
occasion to be an exciting distraction to the main event being played
out on a hardening and uneven pitch
The first moments of the game were to prove somewhat typical of the
full 90 minutes as Horsham enjoyed good procession with Matt Geard
seeing a lot of the ball and creating forward momentum that floundered
as the slightly disjointed attack struggled to open up the black and
red shirted Southwick defence.
The first real shot on target came from Southwick’s right back Rick
Timms which was tipped over comfortably by Alan Mansfield in the
Horsham goal. The resultant corner went the way of most corners during
the game as it was cleared away at the near post by a defender.
As the half wore on, Mark Hawthorne and the rest of the Horsham
midfield took hold of the game and the lone Southwick striker, Dan Merrith, struggled to make inroads against the young Horsham defence
who were well marshalled by Alan in goal and Matt at left back who
spoke to the young pair throughout the game. To their credit, both Tom
and George were comfortable on the ball, were always available to take
it off Alan and distribute it accordingly and if they continue to
develop look to have a bright future in the game.
Chances were at a premium and, however well Steve Davies held the ball
up, Horsham created very few clear cut openings and when they did
manage to work the ball into the Southwick area a miscontrol or
stray pass added to the lack of cutting edge.
Davies had a swivel and shot on 20 minutes that the keeper saved
diving forward, Francis hit one from 25 yards that deflected away
for a corner that came to nothing, a free kick from Geard on 25
minutes was easily cleared, Francis had a goal disallowed as the ball had
gone out of play in the build up and a lady in the crowd was spotted
supporting a very fetching hand knitted black and red scarf although
she let the outfit down with her choice of pink bobble hat.
Southwick had a couple of shots through their number 7, Jordan Saunders,
who worked hard down the right hand flank with little support from his
colleagues. Southwick’s approach was good from the point of view that
until the last ten minutes of the game they tried to play football but
didn’t really commit enough bodies forward throughout the game to
really trouble Horsham and although they tried hard they didn’t give
their meagre support much to cheer. Maybe the excitement of the trains
after 126 years had worn off somewhat and they were looking for other
means of transport to get them going.
On 38 minutes, Francis was found unmarked in the Southwick area
after making a good run from midfield. However, in attempting a lob he
fell awkwardly and the chance went. He did play on but was forced off
at the start of the second half with what looked like a sore shoulder.
As the half time whistle approach Southwick forced two back-to-back
corners that led to a slight scramble in the Horsham area but, as the
mist joined the fog emanating from the burger bar, the sprightly 105
year old ref accompanied by his slightly older linesmen blew for a
well deserved break and no doubt a warming cup of rose lee.
I can report that the Chairman made it out of his chair and into the
boardroom for a nicely diced sandwich as the rest of the crowd drifted
away to get the Champions league scores or to ponder if the white wall
surrounding the ground was designed to keep people in or out.
H/T Southwick
0 Horsham
The second half was basically a repeat of the first with Horsham
maintaining the ball throughout without breaking through and creating
real opportunities to comfort their fans who were beginning to ask
questions about the possibilities of extra time
On 55 minutes, Horsham won a free kick on the edge of the area and had
a go at one of those tried and tested near legendary free kick
routines that, maybe due to the fact that their team was made up of in
essence of 11 strangers, failed badly.
As heads went skywards, a full moon was spotted and with Feb 20th being
the birth date of Bela Lugosi maybe greater powers led to the free
kick not working as well as it should have done.
As Francis left the field, Horsham had a slight switch around and
Patrick Surlis stepped on the pitch to be joined for the last 15
minutes by his Under 18 colleague Matt Whiteford so credit to Ivan and
his team. Pat took his customary position down the left flank and
showed a nice couple of touches against his taller opponent and put in
an excellent cross that was scrambled clear. He also suffered two
heavy challenges, one that resulted in a deserved yellow card for Timms.
As the clock ticked on, Horsham showed a real touch of class to score
the first and, as it turned out, only goal of the night. 65 minutes had
elapsed as Hawthorne strode through midfield and played a lovely
through ball which fell nicely into the path of
Bissett
who drove
the ball under the body of the advancing Southwick keeper Michael
Hunter.
Relief was felt around the crowd.
The goal did produce a slight reaction from Southwick and they hit the
post on 82 minutes, an act to be repeated by Davies who hit the
angle of the post with a close range header after a Horsham free kick
had been punched by the keeper.
That chance was the last one created and as the whistle blew for full
time those masochists amongst us looked forward to the next round draw
with real optimism. The realists pondered that as a game it had been
a useful exercise to look at any future signings and to look again at
the up and coming youth team crop. It also raised the issue of how
useful a reserve team set up would be. The answer, I think, is very !
NEXT MATCH: v Chelmsford City (a) Saturday
23rd February ko 3.00pm |
