Pre-Season Friendly
Culver Road, Lancing
Admission and Programme: None
Attendance: 60 (rough head count)
Match Rating: 3
Having arranged to meet up with some work colleagues for the 3pm game at Eastbourne Borough, I chose to double up with this game earlier in the day, taking advantage of its 11am kick-off along the south coast. Although this would represent a revisit for me, my only previous visit was back in 2009, and the offer of free entry for this game sealed the deal for me.
Culver Road is about a five minute walk from Lancing train station, and serves as the headquarters for the Sussex County Football Association. So no surprise to see plenty of their signage around what is a very smart facility. Lancing, of the Southern Combination League, are the long standing resident club side here, as well as Horsham temporarily. Apart from the installation of a plastic pitch, there have been no noticeable changes since my last visit. A brick stand stretches along two thirds of one length, from the entrance turnstile block to the far corner flag. There is a tea bar window and clubhouse closest to the entrance, then several rows of seating sectioned off by a couple of walls, and then a flat area by the corner flag. There is just hard standing around the rest of the pitch, with quite a nice views of the South Downs behind the length opposite the stand. No programmes nor team sheets were produced for this fixture.
After some pretty lean years for Horsham since they vacated their home ground Queen Street in 2008, during which time they have lived a nomadic experience playing at Worthing, Horsham YMCA and, since the start of last season, here at Lancing some 22 miles from their home town, as well as suffering a relegation to Step 5 football, it would seem that the club are on an upward curve now. They finished in 15th place in the Isthmian League Division One South last season, and are hoping that they will be able to return to their home town this season, as their new ground is in the process of being constructed. Langney Wanderers are a relatively new club, formed in 2010, making terrific strides, having just been promoted to the Southern Combination League Premier Division after just their third season in senior football, finishing runners up last season. They currently ground share at Eastbourne Borough's home ground at Priory Lane.
On a warm, sunny afternoon, this game looked like being horribly one sided, as Horsham opened up a three goal lead inside the opening twenty minutes. With just two minutes on the clock, new signing from South Park Chris Smith saw his shot from the edge of the area hit the post, but they did take the lead on 7 minutes, Shelley diverting the ball into the net following a free kick by the outer corner of the penalty area. They doubled their lead on 15 minutes when a low cross evaded the keeper but not O'Toole, who just bundled the ball home from close range despite the attentions of a defender diving in, and it was 3-0 on 19 minutes, when the keeper was drawn out to the by line by O'Toole, who pulled the ball back for Hoare to strike the ball home. Langney then slowly came back into the game and had a couple of good chances to pull a goal back, although so did Horsham to further extend their lead.
Into the second half, after the customary wholesale changes occurred at half time, the game continued to be more even than the opening twenty minutes, although it remained Horsham doing most of the attacking and creating chances, while Langney Wanderers struggled to get in the opposition half. But it was Langney who got the next goal on 81 minutes when their striker picked the ball up by the edge of the area before thumping the ball home past the keeper's dive. But Horsham restored their three goal lead six minutes later. Following a good dribble sideways into the penalty area, the ball spilt to Hartley, who hit the ball first time into the top corner of the net, and 4-1 was how it finished.
This was an enjoyable game to watch as friendlies go, played at good tempo, and was far from a disinterested kick about, and surely both management teams will have learnt plenty about their respective teams.
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