Southern Combination League Premier Division
Gorings Mead, Horsham
Admission: £7.00
Programme: Online only
Attendance: 249
At the conclusion of my afternoon game at Crowborough Athletic, I then embarked on a 28 mile journey westwards, taking about 50 minutes, for my final game of the day. I had visited Gorings Mead three times previously, although not since 2015, and this would be the first time that I would see Horsham YMCA as the home club, as two previous visits were to watch Sussex League Cup Finals, and the other when former tenant club Horsham played there.
Horsham YMCA have had an average start to their season, coming into this game in twelfth place in the table, following eight wins and two draws from their 19 league games. Unfortunately, Roffey are having a wretched season, their first ever at Step 5, but their hopes for this season were seemingly fatally undermined when their manager left on the eve of this season, along with most of the squad. A return to Division One is looking a certainty, as they are rooted to the bottom of the table, having picked up just two points from their 20 league games played, although one of those points came in their penultimate game. I did see Roffey play at Peacehaven & Telscombe, but they lost 7-0, and in all honesty, it could have been considerably worse than that.
Rain started to fall on my drive over, and about an hour before kick off it had been quite torrential, putting the game in some doubt. The club remained very positive in their social media postings, and indeed this was accurate as the pitch, while it had become quite soft and cut up during the game, was perfectly playable. The rain of varying intensity persisted throughout the game, making the two stands very welcome places to shelter in. It soon became apparent that this was a very different Roffey side to the one I saw at Peacehaven as they more than held their own in a lively opening to the game, and after a free kick was fired just over the bar on 12 minutes, the visitors took the lead on 43 minutes when a corner was delivered into the box and George Cousins drilled the loose ball through a crowd of players from the edge of the box just inside the left hand post. it was no more than they deserved, a lead they held onto at half time.
A little more urgency entered Horsham YMCA's play after the break, and they got back on level terms on 58 minutes. The ball was flicked on for Archie Goddard to run onto, and although his initial shot came back off the post, the ball bounced back to Goddard to sweep the ball home. And it looked like the home side had taken the lead three minutes later when a free kick from deep was delivered into the box, and Ashley Dugdale stretched to poke the ball home, but the goal was disallowed for offside. Both sides pushed hard for a winner for the remainder of the game, but none was forthcoming. Roffey will be pleased to pick up just their third point of the season, but with a little more luck, it could have been their first win of the season - but surely that wll not take too long to come for this new-look squad.
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