Gorings Mead Tuesday, September 7th, 2010   Isthmian Premier Division Attendance: 151         Horsham 1-2 Hendon
2010 /11

Comments :

HORSHAM 1 Hendon 2 Tuesday 7th September 2010 Ryman League Premier Division Goalscorers: HORSHAM: Tait (36) HENDON: Guentchev (35), Busby pen (81) Another penalty, another defeat. The script is becoming worryingly familiar for the Hornets who fell to their fifth defeat in six games as Hendon moved into second place in the Ryman Premier Division table with this patient, if unspectacular, victory. Just nine minutes remained when Jay Lovett upended the burly Aaron Morgan inside the box to leave Mark Zawadski facing his fourth penalty in three games. As with each that preceded Jamie Busby’s spot-kick, the goalkeeper was powerless to prevent the ball from entering the net and the North Londoners were celebrating their fourth win of the season. Hendon, led by the powerful Morgan and the artistry of Lee O’Leary, were good value for their victory but the manner of some of the visitors’ histrionics left a bitter taste in the mouths of the home support. Several attempts at convincing referee Daly that they were the victims of wrong-doings rightly fell on deaf ears and Morgan’s second half theatrics might have been more at home in the murky world of the Premier League. Lying motionless on the floor after an apparently innocuous challenge, the big striker remained prone for a minute or so before jumping to his feet and racing on to a through ball to the obvious displeasure of the Horsham faithful. Constant appeals from the bench at every challenge, imaginary handballs and regular haranguing of the linesman made for a disappointing showing for those who had ignored the England v Switzerland international in favour of an evening at Gorings Mead. Yet to dwell on Hendon’s gamesmanship is to overlook another below average performance from John Maggs’ side in which visiting ‘keeper Berkley Laurencin had only one distinct save to make. Few could question the endeavour of the current squad but, with just three goals in 540 minutes, it is easy to see where the Hornets’ main problem exists. Centre-half Ben Andrews was, once again, Horsham’s biggest threat and he was unlucky to see a first half header hit the crossbar but even the goal itself came courtesy of a huge slice of good fortune, thanks to a calamitous error from Laurencin. Allan Tait showed a good touch and a good eye to bring team-mates in to play and it was reward to him that he would claim the goal but the partnership with Pat Harding is slow in bearing fruit and, with the side still struggling to fill the creative boots of Lee Carney, it looks like a long season ahead for the Hornets. There was, however, some good cheer at the start of the game with the long overdue return of Gary Charman to the squad, nine months after suffering a horrific facial injury against the same opponents. There was controversy within the opening minute of the match when Steve Sargent appeared to lead with his elbow when contesting a ball with O’Leary and the Hornets’ midfielder would consider himself fortunate to escape censure from Mr Daly. The former Crawley man was in the thick of things early on and saw a shot deflected behind for a corner that he, himself, took and planted the ball on the head of Andrews who put his effort wide. Belal Aite-Ouakrim’s 18 yarder befell a similar fate, a minute later, and Busby couldn’t direct his header on target after a good overlapping run by full-back Craig Vargas. Andrews was more accurate from Sargent’s next corner but couldn’t find a way past Laurencin and the skipper’s frustrations continued on 14 minutes when he rattled the crossbar with a towering header from another fine delivery from Sargent. Hendon might have opened the scoring with their next attack when a casual back header from Lovett put the home defence under pressure and, when the ball was spread wide by Michael Peacock, Vargas stepped inside Jack Page and laid the ball back for Aite-Ouakrim who sidefooted the ball way over the top. Page angered the Hendon bench, and was spoken to for a second time by the referee, after a reckless tackle on O’Leary but the visiting midfielder had the last laugh when his long ball out of defence was collected superbly on the chest by Lubomir Guentchev who beat the offside trap and raced past the advancing Zawadski to roll the ball into the unguarded net to give Hendon the lead after 37 minutes. Dean Wright aired his frustrations and was booked for dissent but he was all smiles when the Hornets drew level just a minute after falling behind. Sargent’s pass looked to dissect the visiting defence but was played too close to Laurencin who advanced outside his box only to miss his attempted clearance completely to leave Tait with the simple task of sliding the ball home for the first goal of his Horsham career. Incredibly, Aite-Ouakrim almost made it three goals in as many minutes when he took on Andrews and shot narrowly past the far post. Determined work from Page earned his side a corner and Hendon boss Gary McCann’s demands that his players tighten up at set plays clearly went unheeded as Andrews won yet another header, sending the ball narrowly over the crossbar before the captain was cautioned for hauling down Aite-Ouakrim when Hendon mounted a counter-attack. There was more controversy as the first half ended as it had begun, with referee Daly at the heart of things. A promising attack from the home side saw Tait intelligently pick out the unmarked Harding, 25 yards from goal, but before last season’s leading scorer could attempt to open his account for the season, Mr Daly pulled play back to the far touchline for a foul on Tait that earned substitute Danny Dyer a yellow card. So much for playing the advantage! H/T Horsham 1 Hendon 1 The second half was five minutes old when the powerful Morgan wriggled free on the edge of the box and hit a good shot that was deflected past the far post but there was little for either side to get excited about until just after the hour mark when Aite-Ouakrim and Morgan combined well to open up the Horsham defence with some crisp passing that probably warranted a more deserving finish than Aite-Ouakrim’s flick that went wide of the mark. Horsham survived a nervy moment when Guentchev chased down a tempting through ball before an attack of their own saw Tait head just over from Page’s deep, hanging cross. Then came the moment the Horsham fans had been waiting for with the introduction of the masked Charman for Dean Wright. The talismanic winger had just under half an hour to remind the Hornets of what they had been missing during his enforced absence but, first, there was more defending to be done when O’Leary’s long ball sought out Morgan who did well to control the ball and burst into the area before delaying his shot long enough for Andrews to get back and clear from on the goal-line. Another probing pass by the Hendon number eight saw Morgan expertly tackled by Mark Knee but, when the ball fell for Guentchev, the Bulgarian’s driven cross flew dangerously across the Horsham goalmouth with no team-mate on hand to apply the telling touch. O’Leary, when concentrating on staying on his feet, was becoming a dominant player as the visitors began stretching the Hornets defence. Dyer’s quick acceleration took him away from Page before sending Cassey MacLaren away down the right and, when the ball got stuck under Jahmahl King’s outstretched boot, Aite-Ouakrim’s shot was deflected over Zawadski’s goal. O’Leary was cautioned for persistent backchat, prompting Mr Daly to later ask his manager to warn him against speaking out of turn to save himself a further booking but he would surely have had something to say had Harding’s header not gone the wrong side of the post after a good move involving the hosts’ Paul Kennett, Page, Tait and Lovett with quarter of an hour to go. Hendon had twice taken the points at Horsham in recent seasons with a late winning goal and so it proved again when, with ten minutes remaining and a Horsham corner having broken down, the visitors broke downfield with a quick clearance to Morgan. Collecting the ball with his back to goal, midway in the Horsham half, he turned and set off on a surging, commanding, run towards the penalty area where he tempted the experienced Lovett into a rash challenge to leave Mr Daly with no doubt. Penalty kick! Busby placed the ball confidently to Zawadski’s right and the handful of travelling fans celebrated. Maggs sent on Steve Davies in place of Kennett for the last five minutes but it was Hendon who continued to threaten with arguably the move of the match leading to the overlapping Busby shooting just past the far post. Charman reminded everyone, if they needed so doing, of his abilities when he received the ball on the left touchline and cut inside three defenders before smashing a shot that would have stung the hands of the otherwise underused Laurencin but there remained just one further attempt on goal, Zawadski producing an excellent save to keep out Guentchev’s deflected shot from the edge of the area, and tempers threatened to boil over when Charman and Dyer squared up to each other at the final whistle. Horsham now face a season defining trip to Folkestone on Saturday where a place in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup beckons. What better time to turn the club’s fortunes around!