Horsham YMCA boss Buckland to rest players despite '˜tough' trip to Chichester

YM, who have eight wins from their last ten games, continued their good run of form with a 2-0 win over in-form Pagham.

However, Buckland intends to make at least ‘four changes’ to the side that won the game, with the trip to East Preston in mind.

He said: “We’ve got a cup game tomorrow night away to Chichester which we will have to shuffle the pack a bit for as Saturday is more important.

“I’ve got a couple of players on four bookings (Callum Donaghey and Ash Dugdale), so I’m going to have to keep that in mind with my team selection tomorrow.

“I’m going to have to manage the squad tomorrow night, but I’m sure Chichester will be doing the same.

“I plan to make four changes from Saturday.

“Schaaf definitely won’t be playing tomorrow night as he’s got dodgy knees and needs a rest.

“However, I don’t want to take it lightly and we will be going down there to win.

“The players we will bring are good players, and that’s what a squad is all about.”

Following the victory over Pagham, which moved YM up to fifth in the Premier Division, Buckland said that he was happy with their current position after a very strong recovery to a slow start to the season.

He said: “If other results went our way we could have been higher but the main thing is to keep in touch, now being at the halfway stage.

“I’ve never seen the league so tight. If you look at the top half, one win can change the whole table dramatically. I don’t believe a massive points tally is needed to win the league.

“After our really poor start, if I was offered the points talley we have now and the league position we are in, I would have taken it with both hands.

“It puts it into perspective of what a good recovery we’ve made. I still don’t think we’re firing on all cylinders and we’ve got more to come.”