HORSHAM 1 Cray Wanderers 2
A2B Stadium, Woodside Road, Worthing
Attendance: 158
Saturday 1st November 2008
FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round
Referee: Mr Michael Webb

HORSHAM

CRAY WANDERERS

1 Paul Seuke
2 Jack Page
3 Russell Eldridge 
4 Sam Page
5 Anthony Acheampong (Graves,82)
6 Lee Carey (Payne,78)
7 Jacob Mingle
8 Alex Haddow
9 Lee Farrell
10 Evan Archibald (Charman,46)
11 Jean-Michel Sigere
Subs:
12 Gary Charman
14 Andy Howard
15 Ian Payne
16 Tom Graves
17 Rob Frankland
Goalscorers:
Sigere (89)

1 Glen Knight
2 Matt Lee (Day,38)
3 Colin Luckett
4 Danny Chapman
5 Mark Willy
6 Steve Ais
7 Dean Morris
8 Jamie Kempster
9 Scott Kinch
10 Tony Dolby
11 Tyrone Stirling
Subs:
12 Aaron Day
14 Tommy Whitnell
15 Jamie Wood
16 Scott Manzi
17 Ian Jenkins
Goalscorers:
Dolby (23)
Willy (81)

John Maggs labelled this performance as one of the worst since he became manager of the club as Horsham's dismal FA Trophy record continues after this desperate home defeat against Division One South opponents Cray Wanderers. The Hornets have failed to progress past the qualifying stages of non-league's premier cup competition in each of the last 3 seasons and they never looked like changing that statistic with a wretched display that would have had the home fans among a season's lowest crowd of 158 regretting their decision to brave the distinctly autumnal conditions that saw the match played in constant rain from the first whistle.

John Maggs made 4 changes to the side beaten by Stevenage Borough on Wednesday night with injuries ruling Mark Knee and Lee Carney out of contention while Tom Graves and Gary Charman were rested to the bench. The return of Sam Page saw Russell Eldridge move to left-back, the skipper's brother Jack replaced Graves at right-back while Lee Carey took on Carney's midfield role with Evan Archibald forming a three pronged attack with Lee Farrell and Jean-Michel Sigere.

Having given Blue Square Premier Stevenage a scare in the two FA Cup ties Cray, beaten 4-1 at Woodside Road just a week ago and with just one away victory this season, weren't expected to cause Horsham too many problems but they came close to taking an early lead when Jamie Kempster's hopeful 30 yard chip just cleared the frame of Paul Seuke's goal. Jacob Mingle had already missed what would turn out to be Horsham's best chance of the half on 7 minutes when he failed to connect with an Alex Haddow cross and, without the inventiveness of Carney, the hosts laboured throughout the opening 20 minutes against their hard working opponents.

There was an irony in Cray's opening goal, on 23 minutes, when Tony Dolby - the man who was on the verge of joining the Hornets as player/coach during the summer - made the most of a free-kick awarded for a foul on Scott Kinch to thrash the ball home for his third goal of the season and Horsham's afternoon looked set to go from bad to worse when Seuke clashed with Scott Kinch inside the area and required lengthy treatment before being able to continue.

Dolby tried his luck again from range but, this time, he was way off target but the former Tonbridge Angels boss was enjoying his afternoon in the testing conditions and Haddow almost put the ball in to his own net from Dolby's flick in an incident that was the last of any note from a poor first half.

H/T Horsham 0 Cray Wanderers 1

The start of the second half saw Charman introduced for Archibald but it was the Kent side who almost doubled their lead within a minute of the restart when Steve Ais' effort was deflected behind for a corner and, five minutes later, Horsham received a huge let-off when Kinch skied a shot from inside the 6 yard box after a mistake from Seuke.

Charman twice came close to giving the home side the boost they needed when he arrived at the back post only to fail to test Glen Knight from successive Eldridge crosses and only frantic defending prevented the substitute from punishing a poor backpass with the equalising goal. But the Hornets continued to look uneasy at the back and only Kempster will know how he managed to mess up an opening when, as one of 3 Cray players bearing down on Seuke's goal, he shot wide.

Grateful for that let-off, Horsham enjoyed their best spell of the game and Sigere whistled a shot just over the crossbar before Eldridge and Dolby picked up cautions and Farrell finally brought a save from Knight after an excellent pass from Carey. However, that was to be Carey's final involvement in the game as he was immediately replaced by Ian Payne but Horsham were to fall further behind just 3 minutes later when Mark Willy headed home Dolby's corner.

Supporters' calls for the introduction of Tony Nwachukwu were ignored by Maggs who opted instead to withdraw Tony Acheampong in favour of Tom Graves and, with just minutes remaining, Sigere reduced the arrears with a calm finish but it was far too little, and far too late, for the Hornets who now face a crucial month of league fixtures as they look to fight their way back up the table after their flirtation with cup glory.

NEXT MATCH: v Margate (h) Saturday 8th November ko 3pm