Hornets stung by Wasps

Action from Horsham's 2-0 defeat to South Park on Saturday

East Grinstead took the lead against the run of play in the first half through Steve Sargent’s free kick and added a second early in the second half through John Sinclair.

Second-half substitute Junior Kaffo pulled one back for Horsham in the dying seconds, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the visitors suffering their second defeat of the season.

Assistant manager Rob Frankland said: “It seems to be our problem, taking our chances. We dominated the first half totally and really played some really nice football, but failed in finishing our chances.

“Cadey (Jamie Cade) had a chance that hit the inside of the post and came out and Max Miller had a couple of chances.

“We gave the ball away a bit though and conceded from a sloppy free kick. In the second half we looked to play the same way, but they scored a second with another sloppy goal.

“Things are going against us at the moment. We have been working on finishing in training in the last few weeks, but it’s just not going for us.”

Max Miller had an effort saved, Jamie Cade headed against the post and the visitors then had a strike ruled out for offside.

Miller then turned the returning Tony Nwachukwu’s cross in to the Grinstead net, only for referee Michael Lowe’s whistle to have already gone for an offside call against the winger.

Horsham were then left to rue not capitalising on their dominance as the home took the lead on 32 minutes.

A foul on Layton Schaaf, on the edge of the penalty area, enabled Sargent curl a precise shot into the top corner of Gareth Williams’ net.

Three minutes later Nwachukwu fired his effort on the turn straight at goalkeeper Callum Christie after a Billy Dunn corner.

Just before half-time, a Sargent free-kick was headed over at the far post by Jonathan Hampson.

Williams saved well from Dan Turner at the start of the second half, while, at the other end, Cade couldn’t fully connect with the ball after a Dunn free kick.

On 53 minutes, Grinstead extended their lead when Williams’ punch was headed back into the danger zone by Tom Graves and hooked home by fellow centre-half Sinclair.

The rest of the match saw a number of half chances for either side, the best resulted in Willians turning a Turner effort around the post.

Substitute Junior Kaffo did pull a goal back for the Hornets with just ten seconds remaining as he tucked the ball away after a Cade touch from Nwachukwu’s cross.

Horsham: Williams; Hamilton, Varley (Kaffo 68), Gilbert, King (Gibson 72); Nwachukwu, Tarbie, Morley, Miller; Cade, Dunn. Unused subs: Frankland, Smith, Hills.

More reaction from Frankland in Thursday’s paper.