HORSHAM 3 CHICHESTER CITY UNITED 0

HORSHAM U16s:
Dominic Burchell, Joseph Giacomelli, Ben Mulcahy, Anthony Dumbrill, Sam Lee, Matthew Rance, Adam Hutchings, Jordan Ruff, Patrick O'Sullivan, Darren James, Theo Mefsut, Adam Goddard and George Magnus
Scorers: Magnus (3)

Horsham Youth Under 16’s moved into the semi finals of the challenge cup with a 3 – 0 win over Chichester City United Youth on an extremely wet and windy Sunday afternoon at the village centre in Southwater.

With a change to the normal strike force, George Magnus moved from his usual central defensive role to that of striker, and what a move it turned out to be, resulting in his first hat-trick of the season. The first came with only eight minutes played when a slide rule pass beat the offside trap and was neatly passed into the corner of the Chichester goal from the edge of the eighteen yard area. With the wind howling, and the pitch soaking up the rain rapidly, it was becoming increasingly difficult for either team to string a succession of passes together but it was Horsham who had the edge and their pressure resulted in their second goal, scored just before the welcome half time break, when a goal mouth scramble gave Magnus his second.

Half time couldn’t come fast enough for either team as the weather and the pitch was getting worse and a warm changing room was a welcome place to be, albeit only for ten minutes. The second half saw Chichester change things around and, with nothing to lose in this Challenge Cup Quarter-Final, they played with three strikers. The Horsham defence, however, held strong and limited them to only but a few long range efforts. The final goal came with only three minutes remaining when a beautiful through ball from Patrick O’Sullivan, who incidentally had had a perfectly good goal ruled offside only two minutes earlier, was met by an ever busy Magnus who let fire from all of twenty yards and scored by way of a low drive in off the post.

Given that the conditions were as they were, and by the end of eighty minutes the pitch resembled more of a lake than a playing surface, this was a good performance with all the team, including the substitutes, giving their all concluding in a safe passage into the semi final and with their 100% record for the season intact, despite a spirited performance from a solid and determined Chichester team.