On a beautiful day in Horsham, both teams struggled to create too many chances and failed to score. YMCA came into the match after a disastrous performance last weekend when they lost 4-0 at home to Crawley Down Gatwick while at the same time Bexhill United won 3-0 at home to AFC Varndeanians. 

After more departures from the YMCA roster, Liam Giles had brought in some young players on loan from League Two side Bromley FC. They included  Harry Haines in goal, Charlie Paye in defence and Marc Nouble who started on the bench. Also new to the Herbert Direct Stadium was Stefan Joseph, aka, Smash , who started up front and YMCA youth player Tommy Seale starting on the bench. 

Ashley Dugdale returned as Captain, and supervised the team well from the middle of the park. He brought a sense of calm but often Dan Webster played deep alongside him creating a highly defensive midfield. 

The home side had the best of the first half but the Pirates had a couple of penalty claims which the referee waved away. YMCA were tough in their tackles but the referee didn’t believe it was enough for a spot kick. Horsham’s attacks were often too slow and sluggish and lacked quality in the final third.

The second half was similar with half chances for both teams. Bexhill should have scored with a dominant header aimed into the bottom corner,  but Haines pulled off an extraordinary wonder save to claw it out. The young keeper showed a lot of promise, however his kicking needs some practice. 

Conner Collcutt came on as substitute on the left side and immediately improved the team, starting attacks and not forgetting his defensive duties for the home team.

Marc Nouble also had a positive impact and got the ball in the net but it was disallowed for offside. Moments later he rattled the crossbar with an outrageous volley on the 75th minute, however, it was a stalemate with the points shared. 

Liam Giles gave his thoughts after the game, “Could we have won it? Yes. Could we have lost it? Yes. I thought the boys were excellent and got a great reaction today. The young lads we brought in from Bromley were superb. We worked hard today, just couldn’t find that end product. It wasn’t for the lack of trying. I would’ve taken a point after our recent run.”

The Man of the Match was awarded to the YMCA goalkeeper, Harry Haines for a wonderful debut and a clean sheet.

Just one defeat in 8 games now for the Pirates, next up for them is Midhurst and Easebourne at home as YMCA are away to Saltdean United, who are deep in a relegation battle.