'˜Teams go to Manchester City and Anfield and put people behind the ball, they always get broke down in the end'

The Lancers arrived at Gorings Mead with a defensive mindset and proved extremely difficult for YM to get past.

They frustrated their hosts up until the 73rd minute when Callum Donaghey finally broke the deadlock by heading home a corner.

YM then made the three points safe as Jack Hartley scored a fine individual goal with just five minutes left to play.

The victory maintained Peter Buckland’s side’s four-point lead over second-placed Newhaven and the YM boss exclaimed: “We stuck at it and got our just desserts.

“Fair play to Lancing, they came with a game plan; to not lose the game and they put ten men behind the ball from the off. They made things very difficult for us and in the first half we struggled to break them down.

“We had one or two opportunities - hitting the post once - that I would have expected us to score from, but went in level at the break.

“We said at half-time we didn’t see the need to have four defenders marking one forward, so changed to a 3-5-2 formation and that pretty much changed the game and created chance after chance.

“I said to the boys to be patient, you see it week in and week out. Teams go away to Manchester City and to Anfield and put people behind the ball, but they always get broke down in the end.”

YM did not have the most straight-forward of starts, having to change their formation three times ahead of kick-off with Ash Dugdale breaking down in the warm-up, Alex Barbary struggling with sinus problems and Tony Nwachukwu carrying a knock.

Their fourth reshuffle of the night came off after the break, however, with both Donaghey and Hartley netting.

YM now host Little Common at home on Saturday.

Horsham YMCA: Smith, Hartley, Harding, Donaghey, Evans, Gill, Mobsby, Gedling (Barbary 68), Garrod (Cave 90), Bown (Nwachukwu 75), Schaaf. Unused: Dugdale, Frankland.