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Surrey Youth League - Horley Town 2 Lingfield 2
Wednesday 9th September 2009
This is an example page and does not reflect an actual game.
Roffey's boys made hard work of this 2-2 draw at The New Defence this week. fine win in Horsham Park. Injuries restricted them to 11 travelling players, but they fought off a spirited Horsham second half comeback to close out the game.
Horley lost to toss, but got the option of choice of ends and chose to play downhill with the wind in the first half. Pardoe and Phur upfront both chased early balls into the corners without success. Sherpa troubled Horsham on the right wing but Horley were missing the final ball.
A sudden break by Sparrows threatened the Horley goal but a last-ditch tackle by Costigan saved the day. Costigan and captain Roberts developed some good link play down their respective wings, sending Sherpa and stand-in left winger Burbidge free, but again the final ball eluded Horley.
With Woodard and Hogan solid in the centre of the defence, midfielders Granger and Fludder were able to push on. After 20 minutes, a long free kick from Woodard put Pardoe clear on the left and a fine left footed shot across the keeper put Horley ahead.
But it didn't stay that way for long. Sparrows continued to press and a corner from the right proved Horley's undoing. As it cleared the six-yard box, a speculative over-the-shoulder hit from Sparrows left winger eluded Herrera in goal and Costigan on the line for the equaliser.
But Horley displayed strong resiliance by continuing to press forward and a nice interplay down the right was finished with a long switch pass to Burbidge on the left. Under sever Horsham pressure, Burbidge shot hard and low across the keeper to put Town back in front just before the 30 minute mark.
Town continued to press for the third, but couldn't manufacture the right pass and the first half ended with Sparrows threatening, but being seen off by a solid Horley backline.
The second half was a different story. Sparrows created the better chances, and Town seemed to struggle into the wind. But throughout the defence was superb and Herrera made two superb saves. The first was a double save from one of the numerous Horsham corners, which ended with him diving on a ricocheting ball in the six-yard box. The second was a superb dive to his right to push a free kick around the post. Hogan, Woodard and Roberts all made last ditch tackles and whenever Horley tried to push the ball forward they seemed to come undone. Two long range free kicks by Fludder lacked sufficient power to trouble the Sparrows keeper.
Sparrows hit the bar twice before a long ball found Pardoe up front and some neat footwork gave him sufficient room to squeeze an accurate shot into the bottom righthand corner.
This seemed a hammer blow to Sparrows morale, and although they continued to press Horley stood resolute, evn going down to 9 men at one point due to cramp. When the whistle finally blew Horley knew they had been in a game but deserved the win through their sheer hard work.
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