reporter: Alan Belmore
Photographs: John Lines

Horsham's dreams of another exciting FA Cup run were left in tatters with this controversial defeat at the hands of league rivals Tooting & Mitcham.

Having reached the 2nd Round 'Proper' and 4th Qualifying Round in the last two seasons, Hornets fans descended upon the Imperial Fields full of hope and no little expectation at making early progress at a ground on which they'd come to enjoy plenty of success in recent years. And although things hadn't gone entirely to plan, the prospect of a midweek replay and inclusion in Monday's draw looked on the cards until the closing seconds when referee Ian Bentley took centre stage, dismissing goalkeeper Rob Tolfrey for an alleged stamp and awarding the home side a penalty.

With the sides level at 2-2, Matt York's subsequent conversion from the spot left Horsham crestfallen and Jamie Byatt's injury time strike rubbed further salt in to the visitors' not inconsiderable wounds, leaving John Maggs to pick up the pieces in the dressing room after the game and cast concerned glances towards the club's directors after missing out on a vital £3,000 payout from competition sponsors Eon.

Tolfrey was understandably distraught after the match. "I took the ball in the air and the guy landed underneath me", he told the West Sussex County Times. "I got up to play early and I've walked over him. If I had stamped on him you would have seen my foot come up and I've never done that to a player. I apologise to the guy if I've walked over him or hurt him but you'd never see me stamp on someone. If I did it would not be on purpose."

Bentley's officiating left a sour taste in the mouths of the travelling contingent who, until that point, had enjoyed an entertaining tie that had delivered 4 goals and plenty of end-to-end action.

The return of Gary Charman to the Horsham line-up provided Maggs with a timely boost but a hamstring injury denied the manager of the services of Claude Seanla so Ben Andrews and Pat Harding led the line for only the third time since their joint arrival in the summer. Tooting, second in the league after seven matches, were looking to build on their solitary home success this season and they made the perfect start when a moment of brilliance from striker Paul Vines saw him loop a superb header over Tolfrey after just 4 minutes to give the Terrors the lead.

However, this seemed to spur Horsham into action and the pressure began to tell on the hosts when Colin Hartburn picked up a yellow card for sliding through Mark Knee, long after he had laid the ball off to Alex Haddow. Indeed, only 5 minutes later, Horsham looked even more dangerous as good link-up play between Knee and Lee Carney saw a corner cleared only as far as Knee who was unlucky to blast over. It was a corner that would eventually provide a goal for Horsham as Carney’s expert delivery was met by skipper Sam Page who could only play his shot against the 'keeper but <> Andrews made no mistake from 6 yards out, lashing the loose ball in to the top of the net on 29 minutes.

However, Tooting soon regained their early attacking prowess and won two corners in quick succession, the first of which had York's claim for handball turned down after his shot ballooned off of Page inside the penalty area. Down the other end, Andrews used his power to dart past two defenders and find Carney whose clever pass played in Charman to curl a shot just over the crossbar. Horsham came close again only a couple of minutes later when a clearance fell to Harding and he sent Andrews on his way but the former Worthing man's shot was deflected behind.

With the break looming, Aaron Goode’s darting run into the box looked promising for Tooting until Page’s well-timed sliding tackle got the ball away to Andrews. However, the half ended on a sour note for Horsham as Andrews was dispossessed, and his rash attempt to win back the ball earned him a yellow card.

H/T Tooting and Mitcham United 1-1 Horsham

Horsham came out strongly in the second half but when, from a free kick on the half-way line, a clever long pass went to Delando Smith, Russell Eldridge's shot posed more of a threat to the Horsham fans by the barrier than the goal.

It was Tooting and Mitcham who were posing the most concerns to either goalkeeper, however, as a clever one-two between Byatt and Simon Parker put the former one on one with Tolfrey who pulled off a fantastic save to keep the scores level before producing a fine follow-up save when the ball fell to York on the edge of the box.

Horsham began to push forward even further and, with half an hour to go, a fine cross from Smith fell to Eldridge who took a touch too many and was grateful to see the bouncing ball fall for Harding but his effort cannoned off Dean Hamlin and Carney hit the rebound straight at the 'keeper. The pressure paid off though, 67 minutes in, when a moment of brilliance from Eldridge saw Horsham grab the lead. After some fancy work on the right, Russell nutmegged Byatt and cut the ball back for Harding to get his toe to the ball and send it into the net.

But the lead didn't last long as Tooting restored parity amid a cloud of controversy, only 2 minutes later. Dispossessed on the half-way line, Carney went to ground with a head injury. Mr Bentley, standing just a few yards away from the incident, allowed play to go on and the ball was played into Parker who made no mistake, turning on the spot to slot the ball into the corner. Horsham's players and fans united in their disapproval of the incident, that seemed to go against the accepted rules of the game, and their sense of injustice pushed them on to dominate the closing minutes of the match. It was only a superb save from Dave King that kept the scores level, when a ball over the top found Harding whose half-volley seemed destined to find its way into the net, but an improbable diving save from the Tooting number 1 kept them in the game.

The drama continued as the game entered stoppage time. A long ball was played to substitute Jason Henry but, as Tolfrey caught the ball above his head, the two went down as Henry clattered into the Horsham ‘keeper. Getting up, Tolfrey ran to the edge of his box and threw the ball to the feet of Knee but, as the full-back began his run down the pitch, the referee's attention was drawn to the shouts of the Tooting supporters and Mr Bentley awarded a penalty upon consultation with his linesman. Tolfrey was dismissed and Paul Seuke's first action after 10 months out of the game was to pick the ball out of the back of the net as York took the acclaim of his team-mates.

Down to ten men, the Hornets looked a defeated side and it was no surprise when Tooting added to their total a minute later, with Byatt converting a low cross from Vines.

All in all, it was a massive disappointment for the Horsham team who were on top for the large part in the game and, had a couple of decisions fallen differently, may well have been celebrating passage into the second round, and a much needed financial payout.

NEXT MATCH: v Margate (a) Saturday 19th September ko 3pm