Horsham YMCA need 'winning feeling' if they are to lift title and could makings signings ahead of Arundel clash

Ben Godfrey has told Horsham YMCA they need to get that winning feeling if they are to fulfill their goal of lifting the Premier Division title this season.
Horsham YMCA Tom Gilbert and Ash Dudgale are among seven players struggling with injury. lp181394Horsham YMCA Tom Gilbert and Ash Dudgale are among seven players struggling with injury. lp181394
Horsham YMCA Tom Gilbert and Ash Dudgale are among seven players struggling with injury. lp181394

YM sit top of the league after their 4-3 home win over AFC Uckfield Town last weekend and travel to Arundel on Saturday with hopes of maintaining their lead at the top.

The Gorings Mead-outfit advanced to the semi-finals of the Peter Bentley Cup on Tuesday with a 3-1 win over Lingfield as boss Peter Buckland made a return to the dugout after a recent spell of ill-health.

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Arundel sit fifth-from-bottom after taking 12 points from 13 games. The Mullets and YM have already met this season, in the Peter Bentley Cup on Tuesday, October 16, and it was the YMCA who advanced with a hard-fought 2-1 away win.

Godfrey said: "We played Arundel in a cup game a little while ago and they've got some dangerous players. I do feel that we do have the quality to beat them but we're taking nothing for granted.

"We've got to fully focus. Winning Saturday was unreal, and I wish I had a video of it so that I could pick out things that I could work on defensively, but you've got to celebrate the moment you get the three points.

"My job at training on Thursday is to work on those things. We will try to be more compact and we will try to be harder to break down. We've got to keep on enjoying winning and hopefully this is the start of a good journey to be successful."

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Horsham YMCA's promotion push last season fell away due to injuries to key players during the run-in and with an injury list including Dave Brown, Ash Dugdale, Guy Harding, Tom Gilbert, Adam Hunt and Luke Donaldson, they may be forced to bolster their numbers.

With the Gorings Mead-outfit now sitting at the summit of the Premier Division, Godfrey stressed the importance of keeping up their recent momentum and wanted 'everyone to want to win'.

He added: "I was saying in the changing room that we've got to celebrate everything. Every throw-in, every corner, every tackle, I want them to get that feeling of winning.

"If we 1-0 or come from behind to win 4-3 it's a win and we've got to appreciate that. The momentum wins generate is so crucial. I've been trying to get this club and this team to be a winning club.

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"In everything we do in training or in matches I want everyone to want to win. I don't want players to go, 'It's all right, we lost in training', I want winners.

"If you get winners and build momentum then it just becomes a habit. Hopefully then everyone will fear us and hopefully we can set out with what we want to do."

Buckland added: “We will take stock at training. I think I am going to have to look at getting a few in. I have stuck with things for weeks hoping they will be get better (injuries) and god knows how we have kept up at the top of the table.

“I fear the worst that two or three, Dave Brown, Tom Gilbert and Luke Donaldson, will be long term.”

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Arundel boss Simon Hull said that his side were in for a 'serious test' against YM and revealed that new signing Jordan Layton would be missing through suspension

He said: “We are looking forward to welcoming the league leaders in what will be a serious test for us.

“I have a great deal of respect for YM, they play the right way so we know we are in for a good test on Saturday afternoon.

“We have a couple of injuries which we will monitor this week and make a call late in the week in relation to their participation on Saturday.”