HORSHAM

Will Kerr

Goalscorers

Man of the Match: Harry Lee

HORSHAM 3 Summerley park rangers 2

Sunday 30th October 2011

Arun & Chichester League Cup Quarter-Final

Horsham came through a hard fought battle to earn themselves a place in the League Cup semi-final for the second year running with Harry Lee’s free-kick, worthy of winning any game, was the difference between the two sides.

The game got off to a fairly even start with neither side creating a great deal of opportunities. However, it burst into life on fifteen minutes when an Andrew Roberts free-kick came back off the crossbar and Will Kerr was on hand to nod the ball home when challenging the goalkeeper. This seemed to inspire the young Hornets as they upped their game and started to dominate possession. Good runs down the left, first from Rueben Selby and then Roberts, caused havoc in the opposition box but there was no one on hand to apply that killer touch and the opportunities were squandered.

Some good goalkeeping prevented Callum Nash from extending the lead when the Summerley stopper was quick off his line to block after Kerr’s through ball had released Nash. The half finished in controversial style as Horsham were first awarded a penalty after Roberts was adjudged to have been fouled by two Rangers defenders, whose hotly disputed arguments saw one of their players go into the referee’s notebook. Unfazed by the delay, Roberts coolly slotted home the penalty, sending the ‘keeper the wrong way.

Five minutes later, right on the stroke of half time, Summerley got themselves back into the game when they were awarded a disputed free-kick on the halfway line. And from the kick, the Horsham defence failed to clear and the Rangers striker rifled home a right foot shot from the edge of the area, giving home stopper Tom Auston no chance.

H/T Horsham 2 Summerley Park Rangers 1

The second half started as lively as the first had finished, with the visitors getting the equaliser within two minutes. A free-kick awarded down the Summerley left was whipped in with pace, which seemed to deceive Auston and end up in the back of the net. The next fifteen minutes offered very little by way of chances, as both teams seemed to cancel each other out.

Midway through the second half, a lovely back heel from Kerr set up Roberts but his shot went just over. A couple of goalmouth scrambles amounted to nothing as the Young Hornets pushed for the winner. Roberts again went close after some good work from Nash, but his left foot shot went agonisingly wide of the upright. Then, on seventy one minutes, Kerr was tripped a full 30 yards outside the box, just to the left of the area and up stepped Lee to curl a delicious right footed shot into the top left hand corner of the net.

Despite late pressure from the visitors, the Horsham defence stood firm and held on to book their place in the semi-final for the second year running.