Ten-man Horsham YMCA miss out on RUR Cup last-four spot

Horsham YMCA exited the RUR Cup at the quarter-final stage on Tuesday night after they were forced to play for almost an hour with ten men.
Horsham YMCA FC. Peter Buckland.  Pic Steve Robards  SR1627534 SUS-160926-165217001Horsham YMCA FC. Peter Buckland.  Pic Steve Robards  SR1627534 SUS-160926-165217001
Horsham YMCA FC. Peter Buckland. Pic Steve Robards SR1627534 SUS-160926-165217001

Newhaven booked their place in the last-four on Tuesday night with a 2-0 victory at Gorings Mead.

It capped a miserable four days for YM after their FA Vase exit on Saturday, but their task was made harder after Ben Godfrey received a second booking with less than a third of the game gone.

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The hosts were in the game until just past the hour mark when Kyle Woolven fired the visitors ahead. With 11 minutes remaining, Ryan Knight made it 2-0 as he glanced home James Rhodes’ corner. That confirmed the Dockers’ place in the semi-final where they will travel to Crowborough or Little Common.

YM manager Peter Buckland bemoaned missing the injured Dean Carden, Matt Simpson, Tom Gilbert, Max Howell, Sam Smith, Ash Dugdale, Dave Brown and Nick Sullivan and said: “I can honestly say of those eight, seven would be starting. That’s quite a few senior players missing and we really wanted to have a go with the chance of a semi-final.

“I called Ben Godfrey back in, who is an experience player that has played so many Ryman League games. He was fouled twice in a short space of time and booked once for a petulant flick and another for pushing a player, not a punch or a throat grab, a push. 99 per cent of referees would have ignored the push, but he was a young lad being assessed.

“We were totally bossing it before that, most people in the ground would agree. Dan Evans had a magnificent chance to put us 1-0 up.

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“We went in at 0-0 at half-time and I told them to believe in themselves as so often in football teams go down to ten men and do something.

“Sam Schaaf then missed a chance you would have put your mortgage on him scoring. Even at 1-0 down I thought we had enough about us to force extra-time, but we conceded late in the game when we chasing it.

“We also had a stonewall penalty at 1-0 after Phil Johnson had done one defender on the edge of the area, beat another and was running at the goalkeeeper he was clipped from behind. It’s not just Bucks talking, it was stonewall, but he gave nothing.”

Horsham YMCA: Blaney, Burgess, Harding, Cooke, Gathern, Johnson, Crane, Curtis, Evans, Godfrey, Schaaf. Subs: Hole, Gibson, Shipton, Spinks, Buchanan.

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