Horndean3 1Sholing

Scorers : Joe Richardson 11, Connor Duffin 29, Mark Smith 57 / Pete Castle 68

Date : Saturday 29th October 2016 - 3pm - Sydenhams Wessex Premier

Venue : Five Heads Park

Horndean: Price, Walker (Heard), Fanery, Tayler (Humble), Johnson, Read, Hookey, Richardson [c], Duffin (Maloney), Tambling, Smith

Yellow Card:

Sholing: Ryan Gosney, Owen Royl (Tanaka Madzvamutse), Pete Castle (Joel Drew), Dan Miller, Marvin McLean, Zac Mouland, Owen Roundell, Byron Mason [c], Jake Hoole, Dan Mason, Lee Wort.  Subs not used : Kevin Brewster, Corey Cherrett & Nick Yeomans

Yellow Card:

Attendance : 70ish (30 Sholing fans)

Man of the Match : Byron Mason

Referee: Tony Foster  Assistants: John Bungay & John Harvey

Sholing were well beaten by a lively Horndean side, losing for the first time in 8 league games.  Adding in last week's Vase game, made it a rare two defeats in a week for the Boatmen, who looked out of sorts all match.

Team News : Lee Wort went straight into the starting line up on his return to the club. Jamie Bulpitt was out through suspension and Barry Mason & Alex Sawyer were missing through injury.  Dan Miller returned at the back, with Zac Mouland going wide right, with Owen Royl behind him at full back. Owen Roundell partnered Byron in midfield.

First 10 minutes was open from both sides. Sholing got into some good positions, but were trying the difficult passes instead of retaining possession, which in turn, allowed the home side to gain the upper hand. Ryan Gosney was tested early on, with Robbie Tambling forcing the goalkeeper into a smart stop before Smith fired the rebound well over.

But Horndean were soon in the lead when on 11 minutes, a sweeping move down the left wing concluded when Joe Richardson was allowed time & space to shoot from 20 yards, low into the bottom corner past an unsighted Gosney.

That didn’t wake a disjointed Sholing up and Smith once again had opportunities, firing narrowly wide of the post from distance when afforded too much time by the visiting defence. On the half hour, Gosney was picking the ball out of the net again after Connor Duffin was allowed to run at a Sholing defence that didn't offer a challenge. The Boatmen ‘keeper saved Duffin’s first effort but was powerless to prevent the winger finding the bottom corner at the second attempt.

Sholing had to wait until the 36th minute to make the Horndean keeper work. Lee Wort cut from the left wing onto his right foot and hit a fierce shot that stung the palms of Price, who deflected it for a corner.  HT 2-0

The Boatmen fans who were present were expecting to see a different Sholing side come out for the second half, but sadly that wasn't to be the case. There were still too many overhit passes, loss of possession and growing frustration which the home side siezed upon and got a third goal to pretty much kill the game off after just 57 minutes.

Gosney saved excellently from Duffin’s header, but the rebound was followed up by the unmarked, Mark Smith.  It could have been even worse a minute later as Duffin went clean through on goal.  Gosney dived to his left, anticipating a shot across him, leaving the Horndean player an almost open goal, but he rolled his shot against the post. 

Sholing did grab a consolation on 68 minutes.  Wort’s powerful free-kick was spilled by the keeper, Dan Mason was first to react and a scramble at the near post saw the ball loop up across the face of goal for PETE CASTLE to nod over the line.

Perhaps the only bright spot for Sholing was the debut of yet another promising youngster when Tanaka Madzvamutse (thankfully, known to everyone as "TK") came on.  He almost grabbed a goal, as Jake Hoole's run to the byline and low fizzed cross was inches away from TK's outstretched boot. 

No doubts that Horndean were by far the sharper team and deserved the 3 points, leaving Dave Diaper pondering why his team never got going.  He'll have to make more changes for the next game, as both Byron & Marv will be serving suspensions.  FT 3-1

Next Game :  Sholing v Brockenhurst - FREE ADMISSION - Saturday 5 Nov 3pm

Photos by Ray Routledge (click an image to enlarge)