Horsham YMCA 0, Buckland Athletic 3:YM crash out of FA Vase

The Western League Premier Division outfit booked their spot in the last 32 and pocketed the £975 prize money with a solid defensive showing.

It was a real opportunity missed for YM, who didn’t reach their normal levels in what was a winnable game with a slightly flattering scoreline for the Devon-based outfit.

They did however take their chances at one end and completed a convincing shut-out at the other end to make the fourth round.

YM started the opening few minutes well, but conceded a penalty from Buckland’s first attack as Jarden Lewington was bundled over to the right of the box, but Lewis Blaney was equal to a tame spot-kick from Lloyd Gardner.

That stood for nothing second later as the ball was re-delivered by Gardner from the byline after the resulting corner and Simon Laughton turned home from close range on seven minutes.

The game struggled to find any real rhythm after that in the first 20 minutes with plenty of miss-placed passes with neither keeper dirtying their gloves.

The home side’s first chance came just past the half-hour mark when Ash Dugdale headed a cross on from the left of the area and it looped up to Phil Johnson, but his tame header was straight at Grant Fisher when he could have brought the ball down.

On 35 minutes, YM had hopeful penalty appeals for handball waved away as Loughton went to ground to block a Dave Brown cross after he skipped along the byline.

The visitors doubled their lead four minutes before the break as a cheaply conceded free-kick was given away in a central position 24 yards out.

Richard Groves stepped up and sent the set-piece up and over the wall off the underside of the bar and down into the net for a flattering two-goal lead.

YM had stronger penalty shouts waved away at the start of the second half as Guy Harding went down under pressure as he tried to take control of the ball from a free-kick.

Some frantic defending then saw Phil Sullivan’s cross cleared back to him and Fisher somehow getting the close-range angled follow-up behind.

The keeper then pushed away a Sullivan cross with Sam Schaaf bearing down to try and finish from close range, while Dugdale sent one from range wide of the right-hand post.

But a strong Buckland backline remained resolute, while at the other end on 70 minutes Blaney was down well to deny Groves as fired a low angled effort in from the left of the box.

Immediately back down the other end, Schaaf sent an effort trickling effort just wide of the far post after some good skill.

With 15 minutes left, Brown skewed wide as he attempted to latch onto a loose ball from substitute Max Howell’s cross.

Buckland made safe their place in the next round on 83 minutes as a counter-attack down the left was played into a unmarked Gardner, who had run from deep. He then shifted the ball back onto his left foot and dispatched past Blaney.

Horsham YMCA: Blaney, Evans, Gathern, Cooke, Harding, Sullivan, Curtis (Gibson 81), Dugdale (Buchanan 63), Brown, Schaaf, Johnson (Howell 63). Unused subs: Crane, Spinks.

Buckland Athletic: Fisher, Walters, Laughton, Head, Griffiths, Rudge (Green 86), Drew, Groves, Gardner (S.Revell 88), Lewington, Hammon (Johansen 79). Unused subs: Perring, M.Revell.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make this website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex

3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!