Horsham YMCA flex Mussels to go four unbeaten

Peter Buckland’s side gained revenge for the Musselmen dumping them out of the FA Vase at the start of September as Nick Sullivan’s first half strike, a brace from Dave Brown and a Liam Hunter header ensured YM remain fifth in the Division 1 table.

YM boss Buckland said: “It was a good win. We played within ourselves and did what we needed to do and it was a good performance. In the first half in particular we really got hold of the game and went in 1-0 up, although it should have been far more than that. And he added: “A year ago we embarked on a ten game unbeaten run. That’s four unbeaten now, so I’ll be looking to emulate that. This is the time of the season where we are good. There is a buzz about the place, a good atmosphere and a good dressing room.”

YM started brightly, pressing high and allowing the hosts little time on the ball, but they struggled to initiate the flowing football that has been prominent of late.

However, slightly against the run of play, they did open the scoring just after the quarter hour mark, when a decent exchange between Adam Hutchings and Hunter down the right flank resulted in Sullivan finishing from 12 yards at the second attempt, for his fourth goal in as many games.

The theme for the remainder of the half was for both sides to somewhat cancel each other out, with YM in particular guilty of a real lack of composure in the final third.

At the other end, centre half Matt Crane was meeting everything on the front foot as he marshalled the YM back line superbly, ably supported by the evergreen Kevin Burgess, who mopped up any snippet of an opening the Musselmen’s front line had.

A little complacency was evident in the closing moments of the first half though, when Russ Curtis cleared off the goal line to maintain the visitors’ advantage at the break.

The second half saw the hosts appear to tweak their shape and this served to bring their previously isolated front men more into the game.

Shoreham enjoyed more of the ball and being less wasteful with it, they capitalised just ten minutes after the restart.

Rob O’Toole beat the offside trap and squared to Chad Milner, who netted his third in as many games, a fitting personal reward for a tireless shift down the left flank all afternoon.

The goal offered the Musselmen a restored belief, but this was short lived as just five minutes later, YM re-established their lead with the first of three goals in ten second half minutes, to effectively bring an end to the contest.

A well weighted through ball from Hunter found Brown and the tricky winger rode a couple of full blooded challenges before slotting home.

Four minutes later he was at it again, this time charging down an attempted clearance, before rounding the ‘keeper and tapping in.

And six minutes after that, Hunter was rewarded for his relentless hard work when he met a floated Brown cross and directed a looping header over the advancing ‘keeper from a full 15 yards as YM ran out comfortable winners.

YM face a break from league action next week as they host Division 2 outfit Westfield in the Sussex RUR Cup on Saturday, before East Grinstead visit Gorings Mead on Tuesday evening in the Sussex Senior Cup.

YM (4-2-3-1): Smith, D. Sullivan, Burgess, Crane, Evans, R. Curtis (Symons), Dugdale (c), Hutchings (Thomas), Brown, Hunter (Gannon), N. Sullivan