Horsham YMCA boss Buckland confident good form will continue

YM have lost just once in their last 13 league games with their latest victory coming against Lancing, which leaves them in fifth and just three points off second, and Buckland hopes he will see more of the same.

He said: “There’s a real good buzz about the place, you can’t just turn that off and on, it takes weeks to build up to it.

“The continuity will still be there. We just need to make them aware it doesn’t just happen, you can’t just turn up for a game of football and expect three points on the board at the end of it.

“You’ve got to turn up and put in the same application as any other game.”

Buckland was disappointed that a league game couldn’t be rearranged for the weekend, saying that his side benefit from playing regularly.

He added: “We seem to get the best out of them when they are playing continuously on Saturdays and Tuesdays.

“Stops and starts aren’t good for the run in. We’ll arrange a friendly during the week so they can get their football heads back on.

“However, we had a few knocks so it (the break) gave us time to get them together.

“Liam Humphreys is still out after missing the Chichester game, as did Callum Donaghey but he will probably be back.”

Buckland also stressed that Littlehampton will present a tough challenge despite sitting bottom of the table, and expects a good performance from his team.

“We won’t take anything for granted” he said.

“You can’t pay too much attention to who you are playing and what position they are in because the league continues to throw up some strange results.

“We’ll take each game at a time. We beat them 4-1 away earlier in the season but they are a feisty good young side and are difficult to break down.

“They may be bottom so if you’re being totally honest you would expect a home win but we’ve got to prepare for it as we would if it was Haywards Heath at home.”

YM’s boss also confirmed that they will be ‘looking to strengthen the squad, for the run in, in the next seven days’.

It was a quiet weekend for the the SCFL Premier Division with only four matches scheduled. YM’s promotion rivals Chichester City and Eastbourne Town both had big wins.

Second-placed Eastbourne Town beat Littlehampton Town 5-0 while Chi beat Hassocks 4-0.

In the other games, Three Bridges beat Crawley Down Gatwick 4-0 while Saltdean United beat Worthing United 2-0.