Horsham 2-0 Whitstable Town - If we get to 40 points I think we're safe, says Nicky Southall

HORSHAM 2-0 WHITSTABLE TOWN
Ryman League Division One South
Wednesday 27^th March 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Goring’s Mead

WHITSTABLE TOWN manager Nicky Southall says he feels gobsmacked after his side went down to an embarrassing defeat away to struggling Horsham.

The Oystermen could have cemented their Ryman League status with at least a point because they were eight points clear of Three Bridges, who occupy the sole relegation spot, with six games left to play.

But Horsham were fighting for their lives, sitting in the bottom two, on 31 points from 33 games, three points clear of their Sussex rivals, and Simon Colbran’s side leapfrogged over Walton Casuals in the table after winning their first game since beating Tooting & Mitcham United on 29 December 2012.

Horsham opened the scoring within six minutes when striker Trevor McCreadie opened his account for the club, before both teams struck the woodwork twice.

Horsham received a huge slice of luck at the death when Whitstable Town central defender Laurence Harvey sliced his clearance into his own goal to end Horsham’s miserable run of fourteen games without any win.

Southall revealed he was feeling very low at the final whistle, following his side’s 20^th league defeat of the season.

He said: “Obviously very disappointed at the moment, very low. It’s one of those games, again, if you don’t take your chances, you don’t win games.

”We’ve hit the crossbar, hit the post, cleared off the line twice, should’ve been handball.  Chance after chance, but again we’ve come away with no goals in our column to show for our efforts.

”But on the other hand we’ve got to keep the ball out of the net as well.”

Horsham attacked Whitstable Town straight from the off, knowing three points here tonight would enhance their battle to beat the drop.

A free-kick from Horsham keeper Michael Hunter dropped to Matthew Simpson on the edge of the Whitstable penalty area and his right-footed shot looped high above visiting keeper Dean Ruddy and dropped down onto the crossbar and former Tonbridge Angels’ striker Chamal Fenelon stabbed the rebound straight at the keeper.

Whitstable Town’s opening chance was almost rewarded with a goal when James Everitt’s left-footed shot produced an excellent save from Hunter, who dived low to his left to claw the ball away with his outstretched left hand.

Horsham continued to press at will and Fenelon’s driven cross from the right was met by a first time volley by McCreadie at the near post, which flashed wide.

But Horsham deservedly opened the scoring with only five minutes and seventeen seconds on the clock.

A ball over the top by Horsham central midfielder Scott Harris released man-of-the-match Tony Nwachukwo down the right and his first time cross flashed across goal and McCreadie swept his first time shot past Ruddy to score from four-yards.

Southall said: “I’m disappointed with the first goal.  We said the guy on the right wing (Nwachukwo), he’s very quick, direct and he’s got behind us and he’s crossed the ball and a free man again and he’s put the ball into the empty net.

”I said before that’s what happened for the last two goals against Dulwich (on Saturday) and we didn’t learn from that.”

Horsham missed an excellent chance to give Whitstable Town a mountain to climb when left-winger Ryan Marriott whipped in a cross towards the near post but McCreadie planted his free header wide from 10-yards.

Whitstable’s second chance saw right-back Tom Axford release winger Scott Heard in behind Horsham left-back Billy Joe King before he cut the ball back to David Raggett, who looped his shot over the bar from eight-yards.

A poor back-pass from Horsham right-back Simpson was intercepted by Whitstable skipper James Morrish, but a poor first touch allowed Hunter to come out of his box to intercept.

Horsham nearly capitalised on a poor back header from makeshift central defender Micheal Everitt, which resulted in McCreadie’s right-footed lob looping into the hands of the back-peddling American stopper.

Horsham almost doubled their lead in the seventeenth minute when Marriott delivered a corner from the left, which was met at the far post by Simpson, whose header back across goal was headed off the line by Axford.

The game died down following a frenetic opening twenty minutes and Fenelon flashed his right-footed shot wide of the far post from 25-yards in the 32^nd minute, which was to be the last action of the first half.

When asked about the frenetic start, Southall replied: “The position where they are and where we are, I expected that. Hopefully our quality would come out on top. 

”We had chances again. It just makes me sick how many chances we have and we don’t get any goals to show for it.

”We need to find someone to put the ball in the net and very soon.”

Whitstable Town created the first chance of the second half inside the opening six minutes when Axford picked the ball up on the half-way line before bursting forward and playing the ball inside to Morrish, who found Heard inside the box, who took a touch to put the ball onto his right boot but his finish was poor, blazing his right-footed shot high and wide.

Horsham struck the woodwork for the second time just 87 seconds later.

Nwachukwo used his pace to make progress down the right before whipping in a low cross towards the near post where McCreadie’s initial shot was blocked before his follow up clipped the outside of the top of the near post from six-yards. 

But Whitstable Town began to get a stranglehold on the game after the hour mark.

Morrish drove the ball into the crowded Horsham penalty area and substitute Dan Hanshaw’s first time shot on the turn flashed past the far post from 12-yards.
 
Heard then swept a ball from left to find Jake Beecroft down the right and he clipped the ball into the box where Hanshaw sent the ball over the bar.

But Southall was left frustrated when they were denied an equaliser with seventeen minutes remaining.

A poor back header from Horsham right-back Simpson was latched on to by James Everitt, whose right-footed shot flicked off goalkeeper Hunter and the ball rolled towards goal but Jahamahl King raced back to clear the ball off the line.

Southall said: “We felt it was in and the lad got back, but I said to our boys any chance of somebody backing it off and putting it in and following it in?! We haven’t reacted. We always react too late after the event.  We’ve got to start thinking should I go across people and that gets you goals.

”You don’t win the raffle if you don’t buy a ticket and at times we get in good positions and a little bit of quality lets us down.”
 
Whitstable Town threw everything at Horsham late in the game in search of a point that they needed and deserved.

Beecroft cut a corner back to substitute Adam Woollcott – who was making his debut after returning to England after his Scholarship in America – and he stroked a right-footed curler from 25-yards, which bounced in front of the diving Hunter, who stuck out his left hand to turn the ball around the post.

Southall said: “He’s a good player. He showed his quality to be fair. I’m really pleased for him. He’s definitely one that will be starting on Saturday without a doubt.  He deserves his chance. You could see he’s got that little bit of class, that extra little second on the ball and you could see he picks out people. I’m delighted with that. 

”Obviously very disappointed that we’ve lost but sometimes out of a loss somebody shines and he definitely shone out today for us.”

Beecroft drilled a left-footed shot from the edge of the Horsham penalty box over the bar when under pressure from a central position.

Southall brought Billy Cobb off the bench for a late cameo and two of his missile launched throw ins provided the ammunition to give the Kent side a couple of late chances.

The former Gillingham ace revealed: “I spotted him playing in the local league and I saw him throw the ball and I thought that’s a weapon and that’s why I brought him on for the last ten minutes because you might get something. No one really knows of him. He needs to get his fitness levels up and he will do from pre-season, but he’s come in to help us out and he’s had two throws and we’ve hit the bar with one and we’ve had one cleared off the line and hit the post.”

Cobb’s missile dropped down from the night’s sky onto Harvey’s head and his glancing header from ten-yards agonisingly clipped the outside of the left-hand post with four minutes left.

Horsham almost grabbed a second when substitute Billy Dunn turned Micheal Everitt but his right-footed drive from 25-yards flashed narrowly wide of the near post.

Cobb then hurled another long throw into the box, which sailed over everyone to reach the far post James Everitt’s shot was kept out by Hunter at his near post.

Beecroft swung in the resulting corner and Harvey’s bullet header crashed agonisingly against the crossbar.

It was just not going to be Harvey’s night and he gifted Horsham their second inside stoppage time.

Horsham substitute Jamie Ampleford whipped in a cross from the left and Harvey sliced his attempted clearance into the bottom far corner of his net, past the stranded Ruddy.

Southall said: “It’s one of them. We want one of them to happen in their box! At the minute we get punished for every little mistake.  I’m over critical at times. We are getting punished for individual mistakes but we have to cut them out.  If we cut out the mistakes we’d come away from the game with a draw and a point wouldn’t have been the worst result in the world.”

Ruddy made his best save of the night to prevent insult to injury, with the last kick of the game, diving full-length low to his left to claw out Dunn’s header, which was destined for the far corner.

Southall said: “I’m just gobsmacked that we didn’t get anything out of the game, but fair credit to Horsham. They obviously battled, they battled for their manager and they battled for the cause and the club. That’s what we have to do.

”I said to the boys there’s a big carrot at the end of the day for us. We could’ve gone fourteenth and we haven’t grabbed it and that’s what we need to do in these situations.

”A team like Horsham were low on confidence. We’ve come off the back of a relatively good run (7 points from our last four games). We should be fine with confidence but we wasn’t. Football’s a funny old game. It just wasn’t to be.”

Whitstable Town face two Kent derbies over the Easter campaign, with a home game against Folkestone Invicta on Saturday, before the trip to bitter-rivals Herne Bay (who were held to a goal-less draw by Hythe Town tonight) on Easter Monday.

The Oystermen complete their campaign with games against Burgess Hill Town (away), Hythe Town (home), Chipstead (away) and basement side Three Bridges at The Belmont on the final day of the season.

”We’ve got six massive games now to look forward to. We need, my view I want to win all six, but I’ll take three wins out of those six,” said Southall.

”I want to get 40 points. In my mind as long as I keep that in my mind, if we get 40 points then I think we’re safe.

”It’s not a case of that. I want to finish as high as we possibly can. We could’ve gone fourteenth place today.

”I said to the boys, you can’t afford to have four or five players having off games. You can carry one, maybe two max but you can’t have four or five not playing nowhere near to their maximum because you’ll get done and that’s what happened today.

”I said to the boys after the game,  “Can you tell me Horsham were better than Faversham Town or Merstham?’

”No body could answer me because they’re not so that tells me that was down to us because we didn’t perform in various stages of that game.  That was the answer that we could come up with.”

Horsham: Michael Hunter, Matthew Simpson, Billy Joe King, Jahanahl King, Gary Charman, Karl Akehurst, Tony Nwachukwo, Scott Harris, Chamal Fenelon (Billy Dunn 86), Trevor McCreadie, Ryan Marriott (Jamie Ampleford 80).
Subs: Eddie Koboah, Adam Hutching, Charlie Farmer

Goals:  Trevor McCreadie 6, Laurence Harvey 90 (own goal)

Booked: Ryan Marriott 29, Chamal Fenelon 45

Whitstable Town: Dean Ruddy, Tom Axford (Billy Cobb 84), Tom Brunt, Micheal Everitt, Laurence Harvey, James Everitt, Jake Beecroft, James Morrish, David Raggett (Dan Hanshaw 57), Jamie O’Connell (Adam Woollcott 65), Scott Heard.
Subs: George Crimmen, Nick Shaw

Booked: Tom Axford 28

Attendance: 144
Referee: Mr Tony Foster (Portchester, Hampshire)
Assistants: Mr Steve Wade (Southsea, Hampshire) & Mr Craig Robson (Southsea, Hampshire)