| HORSHAM YM | 4 | – | 0 | GUERNSEY |
| Pingling 34′, 77′ Fisher 69′ Sentamu 79′ |
A bad day at the office in both boxes saw Guernsey’s winning run ended in emphatically by a Horsham YM side that have done the double over them this season.
It was also the first time this campaign the Green Lions have failed to score as they failed to take advantage of Haywards Heath Town slipping up against Bexhill United.
Despite some early promise, the Sarnians were behind at the break, saw the deficit increase midway through the second half before a quickfire double made the contest unsalvageable.
There was an early scare as Josh Addison had the ball pinched off him by Richard Pingling for an early opener from the hosts, but the referee accepted the Guernsey’ keeper’s claim that he had two hands on the ball and it was chalked off, much to the anger of the home crowd.
Charlton Gauvain had a penalty appeal waved away on nine minutes after he claimed to have been tripped just inside the area, while Jacob Fallaize nodded a cross wide. An overhit cross from Dave Merris almost resulted in the opening goal if not for debutant Horsham keeper Ryan Hammond pushing the ball over.
Noel Fisher flashed one just wide for YM and saw a free-kick easily fielded by Addison, then a Sam Murray flick-on found the feet of Tom Vaudin just yards out at the other end but the defender was unable to make a clean connection and the chance was gone.
Horsham took the lead shortly after the half hour after a driving run from Fisher, who teed up Pingling to find the net. Jermaine Essien could have made it two just before half-time but his shot was straight at Addison.
The Green Lions’ best opportunity to level in the second half came shortly before the hour as Murray picked out Gauvain just a few yards out but the Guernsey number seven struggled to sort out his feet an scuffed the shot.
That was to prove costly as Horsham doubled their lead on 69 minutes, Fisher latching onto a lovely pass over the top from Shay Matthews and firing home emphatically from just inside the area and giving Addison no chance.
A Ross Allen free-kick was deflected just over the bar as the purple-donned Greens sought a way back into the match.
Then a nightmare few minutes saw the result put beyond doubt. Pingling got his second on the break to make it 3-0 on 76 minutes, then a fourth went in on 79 minutes as Jesse Sentamu followed up after Addison had initially made a good save from James McElligott.
Horsham are now up to fourth and just one point behind GFC. Steyning Town’s game was called off and so we remain eight points behind them with a game in hand. Saturday’s full set of Southern Combination Premier Division results were as follows: Forest Row 2-5 Roffey, Haywards Heath Town 3-4 Bexhill United, Lingfield 1-1 Pagham, Midhurst & Easebourne 0-0 Crawley Down Gatwick, Newhaven 1-2 Eastbourne United, Shoreham 1-0 Lancing.
HORSHAM: 1 Ryan HAMMOND; 4 Gideon ACHEAMPONG (c); 5 Jermaine ESSIEN; 8 Dan WEBSTAR (6 Tom LYONS, 87′); 14 James McELLIGOTT (13 Ade AJAGBE, 87′); 15 Tricki WILSON; 19 Richard PINGLING (3 Archie CASSIDY, 78′); 20 Jesse SANTAMU (18 Tommy McKENNA, 90′); 21 Noel FISHER; 22 Shay MATTHEWS; 23 Adam ADAM (9 Charlie MARTIN, 69′).
Booked: Webster.
GUERNSEY: 1 Josh ADDISON; 2 Niall HAINSWORTH; 5 Tom VAUDIN; 7 Charlton GAUVAIN (14 Simon ARNOLD, 70′); 9 Sam MURRAY; 10 Ross ALLEN; 11 Brandon WALLACE (19 Will FAZAKERLEY, 60′); 17 Callum LE LACHEUR (20 George GOUBERT, 64′); 18 Dave MERRIS; 21 Jacques CAUVIN; 24 Jacob FALLAIZE. Not used: Jamie DODD; Fin PATTERSON.
Booked: Vaudin, Fallaize.
Attendance: 154.
