A long journey, terrible weather conditions, a poor playing surface, bad officials and some bizarre goals all contributed to this defeat, but there can be no getting away from the fact that bottom of the table Maidstone were the only team up for this game and fully deserved the three points.

The long journey was caused by rush hour traffic congestion and the players were stuck on a coach for over two hours on the trip to the Lordswood ground which Maidstone Youth share. The referee put the kick off back to 8pm, which turned out to be one of the few decent decisions he made all evening, so the players could warm up properly on the uneven surface.

The game started with Horsham having to defend against the strong wind but it was their own misguided passing which was causing the problems and the Stones quickly began to fancy their chances against a flat looking Horsham side. Good defending from the Hornets kept the hosts at bay and, as the half wore on, Horsham started to find more space but were unable to find a shot at goal. A couple of decent free kick opportunities were also wasted and it looked the teams would go in goalless. But fortunes changed for the worse for the Hornets just before the break when first they lost striker Dean Wright to injury and then, in added on time, Bryant, the Stones' left winger, hit a cross that caught in the strong wind and beat 'keeper Tom Baxter on the far post.

Strong words were said an the dressing room at the interval and these seemed to have the desired effect as Horsham came out looking sharper and determined to take the game to the Stones. As the Hornets started to turn the screw so the defending from Maidstone began to get more physical. Unfortunately, the referee seemed oblivious to a great deal of this and some poor decisions followed. With twenty minutes left, Horsham were hit by the sucker punch and, after conceding a free kick, they failed to clear and were beaten by Ibbottsen's header and were now staring down defeat at 2-0. Horsham then went three at the back in an attempt to quickly get back into the game but this time the response from the Hornets was poor and a third came minutes later this time when the ball came down off the underside of the bar, hit Baxter, and was bundled over the line with Heath acknowledged as having had the final touch. Maidstone then had further chances against the disjointed Hornets but Baxter pulled off some fine saves. It was left until the final minute for the fourth and most extraordinary goal of the night to go in when a Baxter's clearance from the edge of the box hit a retreating Stones player on the back of the head and rebounded over the stunned 'keeper into the empty net. The whistle went soon after and the Horsham players were hoping for a quicker journey home and to forget about a disappointing performance in the dismal surroundings of Lordswood FC.

NEXT MATCH: v Haywards Heath (a) Sunday 11th November