I'm not a well travelled man and I haven't seen the great derby games of the world, the likes of Barcelona v Real Madrid, Boca Juniors V River Plate, AC Milan v Inter Milan, Nottingham Forest v Mansfield, so it made sense to pack a Mac and make my way across the county to Broadbridge Heath for the Horsham Youth v Horsham YMCA Youth Under 18's clash.

Played out before 79 supporters on a pitch that hadn't seen a mower since Mountfield were formed back in the 60's a scrappy affair was decided by two goals of real quality and a hard fought midfield battle both leading to a 2-0 victory for Horsham.

Usually these derby games are slightly strange due to both sides seeming to know each other due to local schooling and the players have often played to the crowd rather than their team mates, especially in YM's case, however credit to both teams and especially YM as although they were pretty much second best on the night they played with a greater determination than recent outings against their Horsham opponents.

The game kicked off with Horsham playing towards the hammer throwing end and the first 20 minutes of the game set the tone for the full 90 - loads of midfield energy and endeavour, little time on the ball, final passes being over hit or skidding on off the greasy pitch - leading to the conversation of various members of the crowd wandering off into the vague topics of Mott the Hoople (still going on), pork pies and stealing your own child's money out of his or her bank account (only joking).

The first chance fell YM's way as Dominic Burchell in the Horsham goal turned a shot from distance onto the post. The resulting corner led to nothing and the chance had gone. It was to prove to be the nearest YM got to scoring although a couple of second half mishits or weak shots were cleared safely and the odd scrambled corner were dealt with- leading the now chilling crowd to return to their previous pork pie conversations.

However midway through the first half the first ray of sunshine appeared over the deep dark night sky, lit up previously only by the Tesco's advert for half price Easter eggs (who needs Christmas) as Patrick O'Sullivan broke down the left hand side of the Horsham attack, jinked past one defender, went around another, dipped his shoulder to go wide around the advancing and aptly named Mr Barrel in the YM goal before planting a superb strike into the back of the net from an tightening angle. It was a quality finish from a player riding high in confidence on the back of his recent elevation into the South east England schools team.

The game was there for the taking if Horsham managed to secure a quick second but they didn't really carve out any more chances and the teams went in at half time for a warming cuppa with the score still at 1-0 to Horsham.

The real travesty occurred at half time in the clubhouse as the match reporter missed out on the fifty fifty raffle by one number - an official complaint to the organiser of said raffle is being mooted and a final judgment will be asked for from FA headquarters (who are of course noted for their sensible arbitration of such delicate matters).

The second half carried on in the same vein with much huffing and puffing by both sides, few real chances, more strong tackles, a couple of quick bookings for Horsham, loads of endeavour from YM, few shots on target, one shot by a YM midfielder that caused Gatwick traffic control to redirect the 9.20pm Gatwick to New York 747 away from Broadbridge Heath (my guess the ball landed in the garden of Mr P. Pie of 14 Gateway drive, Southwater, West Sussex).

Horsham made a couple of changes with the talented Chris Copestake going off - a player that can make a real difference when tuned in and on his game - however it was left to the hard working, hard running youngster Josh Clack to put the game finally out of the reach of YM as he scored a deserved goal from distance.

From the left he broke inside and from outside the area hit a shot that didn't fly in but skimmed across the surface and accurately went into the right hand side of Mr Barrel's goal for 2-0

A nasty injury to the YM captain and right back seemed to go unnoticed as the physio seemed to adopt the "I'll get there in my own time" approach to first aid so much so that the player rolled off the pitch by his own means whilst clutching his right ankle. Moments later another YM player went down injured and the game lost a little bit more momentum and the crowd lost a little more interest, so much so that watches were glanced at and people were amazed as the big hand said 9 and the little hand pointed at the 55 - 9.55pm still playing - on a school night -oh blow your beast please. The ref duly obliged and the game finished 2-0 to Horsham -well done to both sides.