Chips win puts us safe says Horsham boss Simon Colbran

A hat-trick from striker Trevor McCreadie and a goal from Ray Freeman saw the Hornets to another big three points which catapulted them seven places in the Ryman South table, up to 15th.

“I think it’s 11 (points) from 18 and that’s what we’ve asked of them,” Colbran said. “We said we wanted to be safe before the last three games of the season and that’s what we’ve done.

“I’d like to think so (we’re safe). We’ve got seven teams below us now so all of those seven teams have got to win games and us lose the rest so although it’s not mathematical I think we are safe.

“It’s still very tight, it was always going to be the ones who battle the hardest who would survive and we’ve definitely done that.

“We’ve been looking to end up 14th, we’ve been having our own mini table with the sides around us and we’re still looking to finish there, and that’s a couple of places under halfway, which isn’t a bad thing in the end.”

A Tom Jelley penalty provided Chips with some consolation after Jahmahl King’s trip on Hamici, before Hamici saw red for a silly off the ball foul in stoppage time.

The result drags out of form Chipstead deep into relegation danger as they dropped third from bottom.

Praising his hat-trick hero McCreadie, who netted his fifth goal in 11 since joining from Hailsham, Colbran said: “We’ve been missing a natural goal-scorer so he’s been a massive signing.”