HORSHAM SQUAD

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Louis Lewis

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George Matthews

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Goalscorers

 HORSHAM 4 Lindfield Juniors 1

Sunday 22nd January 2012

Sussex Sunday Youth League

The lads returned to winning ways when they entertained Lindfield at home.

The game's early exchanges were quite even, with Louis Lewes looking solid at the back and up for every challenge, and it wasn’t until fifteen minutes had passed that the first real opportunity to open the scoring arose. Ali Kerr picked up the ball in midfield and released Finn Bigg down the wing with an excellent ball over the top but Bigg’s low cross was cut out by good front post defending.

Another fifteen minutes of good competitive play followed until the ball was spilled from the left, reaching Hugo Cowan who was ready to pounce on the edge of the box. He steadied himself and volleyed coolly home high into the net to give Horsham the lead. Lindfield responded breaking down their left but finishing with a shot from distance which went narrowly wide and the first half came to a close.

H/T Horsham 1 Lindfield Juniors 0

The second half burst into life with an early chance after a strong run by Liam Clarke down the left, when he cut inside with his run taking him right across the edge of the penalty area, but the Lindfield stopper was equal to his low driven shot.

However, with forty minutes gone, Lindfield made it all square after Horsham failed to close down the opposition’s midfield quick enough, giving them time to shoot. The lads steadied themselves again and began moving the ball around but they couldn’t find that final telling pass to break through the Lindfield defence. Horsham won a corner on 51 minutes after Clarke had shielded the ball well inside the box then turned his man and shot but the ‘keeper pushed it around the post. The corner was taken deep by Bigg to George Matthews who cut it back to Lewis and he picked out Clarke in the six yard box who was always going to be first to the ball to return the lead back to Horsham.

The lads pushed on for another and, after one of his clever runs down the left, Bigg was chopped down just outside the corner of the box. He took the resulting free-kick and floated it in for the perfect header by Dan Cusdin, high into the corner of the net to give the lads a well deserved two goal cushion. Horsham piled it on with Bigg coming close but putting his shot just wide and Kerr continued to work his socks off in the midfield tacking strongly and showing some good footwork.

Four minutes left on the clock and Nick Bristow found himself through on goal after a nice ball from Clarke over the defence but the ‘keeper came out quickly to parry Bristow’s shot around the post for a corner. One minute to go and Bigg picked up a loose ball in the middle and drove forward, letting rip with a screamer of a shot but the Lindfield ‘keeper pulled off an absolutely fantastic save, tipping the ball over the 'bar. Bigg took the corner and curled it in for Clarke who sealed it with a superb crashing header. This was a good win which puts the young Hornets three points clear at the top of the table.