Charity cup success begins at home for Chichester

City came back from a goal behind to see off premier-division rivals Horsham YMCA in the RUR Charity Cup.

City found themselves behind six minutes after the break when Dave Brown’s low cross for YM was turned in by Chi defender Jamie Horncastle.

But two Chi goals in as many second-half minutes turned the game on its head midway through the second period.

Midfielder Dan Hegarty first poked home from close range to restore parity before Jimmy Wild’s low strike less than 60 seconds later made it 2-1.

This was Rutherford’s second game in charge after being appointed last week and he was proud of the character of his team. And despite looking to improve the squad, he is determined to keep hold of as many locals as possible.

He said: “We showed character and you could see we wanted it after going a goal down. I think the win was deserved – we worked very hard but we do lack a bit of quality.

“I would like to keep as many local players at the club as long as they are good enough.

“We are missing some players who have been solid first-team members but we do need to bring in some players with quality. Horncastle made his debut at centre-half and he was very comfortable and played well.”

It was Rutherford’s first win as manager and he hopes he can instill a winning mentality amongst his players.

“I would like to develop a winning mentally here. I know nothing about the players and they know nothing about me, so we are learning about each other – all I ask from my players is honesty, it works both ways.” added Rutherford.

In the opposite dugout, YM manager Peter Buckland confessed his side were ‘bullied’ out of the match.

Buckland said: “Basically we got bullied. It’s as simple as that. With the players that we had available, we got bullied. Players were pulling out of tackles. It was as if we were scared.

“We were just out-muscled. We couldn’t settle into a rhythm of playing football at all because we were second to every ball. They were just about within the rules of the game on their physicality and we just never had the players to stand up to that.”

Chichester host St Francis in the league on Saturday.

CITY: Holden, Williams, Edwards, French, Horncastle, Smith, Byles, Case, Hegarty, Manners, Wild. Subs: Bush, Atkinson, Bingham, Kendall.

GEORGE BOULTON & TOM NORRIS

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