Hornchurch 2 Horsham 0

Isthmian League Premier, Tuesday January 25th

I was over at Bridge Avenue on Tuesday evening to see hosts Hornchurch put in a dominant performance as goals from Tobi Joseph & Tom Wraight saw them to an eighth win in nine games after seeing off Horsham in Upminster.

The hosts sat in seventh and just four points off the play off places after a superb run of results, they had won seven on the bounce prior to Saturday's draw against league leaders Worthing so were full of confidence and looking to extend that unbeaten run in this one against a Horsham side who were ten points behind them and down in thirteenth spot.

Horsham themselves ended a winless run of five games with victory at tenth placed Cheshunt at the weekend, so they were coming into this one with some good vibes no doubt but this was going to be a very tough test against one of the most in form sides in the Isthmian Premier currently. 

The Urchins wasted little time in getting into their opponents and were soon causing problems for the visiting back line, full back Remi Sutton burst into the box in the left hand side but his well driven effort was smartly stopped by Horsham keeper Sam Howes, and then Charlie Ruff missed a brilliant opening when firing wide from twelve yards out.

Horsham, who spent a lot of time on the back foot, did create a couple of chances for themselves though, and they were HUGE chances as well, firstly Shamir Fenelon found himself with just the keeper to beat but could only send his effort straight at Joe Wright, and then the visitors somehow scooped another effort over the bar from point blank range, and they were to go into the half behind. 

This was because eleven minutes before the break, The Urchins managed to find the breakthrough when Wraight got in down the left after a lovely move from the hosts, and drove an effort across goal and wide of the far post, or so everyone thought, as somehow Ruff kept the ball in and in doing so squared back to the awaiting Joseph who converted a first time close range effort into the roof of the net.

It was a deserved lead for Hornchurch, but they were given a couple of warnings as mentioned previously that Horsham were still well in this contest, and they should really have been out of this contest after the break as Hornchurch missed plenty of opportunities to extend their lead as they dominated the second period, striking the bar on one occasion.

Horsham somehow survived all of these scares and knew they just one moment down the the other end would bring them level, they had one decent chance which went over the bar from inside the box, but that was really all they could muster in the second half, and finally with two minutes of the ninety to go, The Urchins did seal the game when Joseph broke the offside trap, squared a ball across the area and found Wraight who drilled an effort into the far corner.

So, another win for Hornchurch as their charge for the play off places continues here with an eighth win in nine, whilst Horsham will rue those two missed chances in the first period although they can count themselves lucky this score line wasn't more in favour of the hosts than it was.

Hornchurch are back at Bridge Avenue at the weekend when they welcome third placed Lewes to Upminster in what promises to be a cracker, whilst Horsham welcome Essex side Bowers & Pitsea to West Sussex and with the Len Salmon Side battling for points to stay in the division next season, that will be another tough game for sure.

Full time Hornchurch 2 Horsham 0