Hornets Review: All the news from Horsham Football Club

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HARROW BOROUGH v HORSHAM

Earslmead Stadium, Harrow

Ryman League Premier Division

Saturday 14th January, kick-off 3pm

Matchday admission prices
Adults: £10
Seniors/Students: £5
Under 16s: £2

MATCH PREVIEW

Hugo Langton has banished talk of the 'Harrow Hoodoo' ahead of Saturday's visit to the Earlsmead Stadium as his side look to achieve a long overdue victory on the Reds' home turf. With the risk of incurring his wrath (players, look away now) no Horsham side have tasted success at Harrow since October 1968, a long and miserable run that has returned just 2 points from 10 matches as well as 2 losing cup ties. But of more relevance to the Hornets boss will be his team's long winless run this season. Without a victory since the Senior Cup triumph over Horsham YMCA on 25th October, and no league success since the 3 point hauls at Kingstonian and AFC Hornchurch inside the opening week of the season, Hugo will be looking for his charges to turn their recent positive performances into something more tangible as they look to claw back the 13 point deficit that separates them from safety.

"Spirits are really high at the moment, despite our position, but we have to take that positive energy on to the pitch and turn it in to points" he said. "We have performed brilliantly in our last 3 games, against some top teams, but we can't let our guard down or let our standards slip otherwise we'll be in trouble. Like us, Harrow are a side at the wrong end of the table but their manager, Dave Anderson, is a wily old fox with an awful lot of experience and I have an enormous amount of respect for him. He's one of non-league football's good guys and he knows what he's doing so we know we're going to have to be on top of our game if we're to take anything out of the match.

Harrow tore us apart when they came to us, earlier in the season, and had lots of pace out wide. Jon-Jo Bates was the instigator that day, scoring twice, and he and and the lad Buckle will give us problems up front so that's something we will have to deal with. But our defence has been superb of late and they need to maintain that level of consistency throughout the rest of the season. We need to get points on the board but that doesn't mean we're going to go gung-ho in these games. We will have to err on the side of caution at times and be patient where we have to be."

TEAM NEWS

HORSHAM
Tony Nwachukwu misses out with a hamstring problem, and Craig Wilkins remains on the sidelines, but Jake Jacobs is back in contention having missed the midweek draw with Wealdstone.

HARROW BOROUGH
Harrow will be without the services of Evandro Delgado for the rest of the season after the midfielder broke his leg during last weekend's defeat at Kingstonian.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Harrow win, Horsham lose! Not 100% accurate but as near as damn it. In the 19 Isthmian League meetings between the sides since season 1975/76, Harrow have won 12 and drawn 4, scoring 51 goals to Horsham's 16.

• When the Hornets followed up their 2-0 win at Goring's Mead with a 2-2 draw at Earlsmead in 2009/10, it was the first time they had recorded an undefeated season against the Reds since joining the Isthmian League.

• Harrow exacted full revenge in 2010/11, winning the home game 6-0 and running out 7-1 winners at Goring's Mead to become the first visiting side to score 7 goals on the Hornets' home turf in almost 17 years.

HARROW BOROUGH

• Jon-Jo Bates' 72nd minute goal against Bury Town on 29th October secured Harrow's first home league success of the season after Billericay, Aveley, Cray, Hastings, Tooting and Kingstonian had all left Earlsmead undefeated

• Harrow have scored just 4 goals in their last 5 matches, all of them coming in the 4-2 win over Hendon at the start of January

• Harrow's six league wins have been split evenly with 3 victories each recorded at home and away

• The Reds have kept just 1 clean sheet at the Earlsmead this season. To date, only 4 sides have failed to shut out their opponents at home; Leatherhead, Tooting, Wingate and Horsham!

HORSHAM

• Horsham have conceded 25 goals on their last 6 visits to Harrow, scoring just 5 times.

• Now at Whyteleafe, Delando Smith's only goal for Horsham came in the 2-2 draw at Harrow in March 2010

• When Horsham met Harrow Borough on 24th November 2007, the Hornets' Lardy Army made respected football commentator Alan Parry an honorary 'Lardy' for the day. Parry, at the match in preparation for the following week's big FA Cup tie against Swansea City, spoke with club officials and supporters and was even photographed posing in a Horsham 'rasta hat'!

Last meeting: 27th September 2011 Horsham 1 Harrow Borough 3 (report here)

Supporters unable to travel can follow the Hornets' fortunes via our Twitter page and full text updates will be available at the West Sussex County Times website.

Down Memory Lane:

14th January 1956- Chichester's Priory Park played host to a sensational Sussex Senior Cup Third Round tie when the home side shared 14 goals with Horsham in a stunning 7-7 draw. Horsham's Peter Lambert, playing up front in place of John Browning, scored a first half hat-trick as the sides turned round with the score showing 4-3 in favour of the hosts. It could have been worse for the visitors, though, as Chichester's Brownless had hit the bar with the score at 4-2. From the resulting goal-kick, the Hornets swept downfield and Lambert, playing at inside-left, caught the home defence napping to reduce the deficit to a single goal. The second half saw Lambert add his fourth to level the scores but Chichester regained the upper hand by making it 5-4. Johnny Elphick restored parity at 5-5 in the 72nd minute but, three minutes later, the rampant City forwards broke through on the left and Mick Blythman fired in a 25 yard shot that goalkeeper Tony Winkworth never saw. Only two more minutes had elapsed when Elphick got another then, with four minutes remaining, the centre-forward sent Horsham supporters wild with excitement by completing his hat-trick and, for the first time in the game, Horsham led their opponents and the match seemed to be won. But the do-or-die spirit had not deserted Chichester as centre-forward Brownless got his fourth, and their equaliser, before the final whistle signalled the end of this astonishing game.
Final score: Chichester City 7 Horsham 7 (Sussex Senior Cup 3rd Round)

Horsham Football Club, Goring's Mead, Brighton Road, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 5BP
Telephone: 01403 266888 | Email: horshamfc@yahoo.co.uk