HORSHAM

Ollie Clark

Ben Collier

Zak Comber

Tom Killner-Brown

Jake Legrange

Harry Smith

Jacob Waller

Subs

Goalscorers

Marle Place Wanderers 2 HORSHAM 5

Sunday 20th November 2011

Sussex Sunday Youth League

Horsham were on their travels again to face Marle Place and with four team members absent due to injury/illness. Albie Aldridge started in goal with regular goalie Lewis Blaney taking on the mantle of Horsham's lone sub.

The first half found Horsham dominating play with most of the possession and displaying a good team performance. Their strong midfield pairing of Connor Cushing and Alex Parsons were at the centre of the team's passing game and it was only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken. On 12 minutes it was a pass by Parsons that found the head of Jake Legrange whose header was well saved by the Marle Place keeper but the rebound fell kindly to the Horsham forward who calmly took his goal with an easy header.

With Greg Gander and Ben Collier leading a solid defence, and great movement down both wings by Ollie Clarke and Harry Smith, Horsham looked to take hold of the game. However Horsham were fortunate when a rare misunderstanding let in Marle Place for an equaliser but it was ruled out for offside. At the other end, the deadly duo of Legrange and Zak Comber showed why they are thought of so highly and when Comber fired in a cross which came off the bar the rebound fell to Legrange and his header appeared to have been saved by the keeper but the linesman declared that it had crossed the line for 2-0.

Then, 6 minutes to half-time, it was Comber who spied the advancing keeper off his line and expertly stroked the ball from 25 yards, lifting it over the keeper's head and into an unguarded net for a well deserved goal.

H/T Marle Place Wanderers 0 Horsham 3

The second half found Harry Smith and Tom Killner-Brown exchange positions with Killner-Brown now playing on the left wing. Horsham continued to pile on the pressure but all credit to Marle Place who battled on and immediately sent a long lob forward forcing Aldridge to make a great call and skilfully foil their effort.

Following some intelligent interchanging passes by Jake Waller, Parsons, Cushing and Smith, Horsham’s strikers were again testing the impressive Marle Place goalie. On 50 minutes a miskick by Aldridge allowed Marle Place to get one back but Horsham kept their heads up and Killner-Brown sent a superb cross in to Legrange who was again thwarted by the 'keeper.

With 15 minutes to go, Blaney was brought on for Legrange. However, to their credit, Marle Place kept pushing forward in this open game and a rare Lack of communication by the Horsham defence enabled the hosts to get in behind to score their second. With the score now 3-2 Horsham appeared to be under a bit of pressure but they upped their game and Captain Cushing led by example with a dynamic performance and, with 8 minutes to go, witnessed Ollie Clarke’s fine tackle which fell to Comber who powered the ball into the back of the net to reinstate Horsham's 2 goal lead.

The biggest cheer of the day came near the final whistle when Ollie Clark curled in a corner kick which struck the far post and rebounded out to the reinstated Legrange who sent his shot crashing back off the bar for regular goalie Blaney to expertly fire in on the half volley and get a taste for scoring!