Horsham men prepare to face leaders Old Cranleighans with five-star show

The whole team responded to a rousing team talk before the match and early dominance culminated in a short corner that coach Dom Male fired into the corner of the Woking goal.

A goal against the run of play shortly afterwards pegged Horsham back to parity, but the signs were there that more goals would follow, with Burroughs in particular causing havoc in the Woking defence.

Burroughs was the scorer of the second goal, found by a crashing pass across the Woking D from Male. Burroughs then tucked away a well-worked penalty corner to put the home side 3-1 up.

But the away team were not going to lie down, winning three short corners in a row.

The home defence, marshalled by Heathcock in goal, however stood strong and weathered the storm.

Early pressure in the second half allowed Horsham to press into the Woking defence and earn another short corner. Male flung a shot into the top right corner of the goal, earning his second and Horsham’s fourth.

A defiant Woking team would not be broken though and scored from a short corner of their own.

With the clock running out, it was Horsham who would finish the day on the high. Male won a penalty stroke following good work from Howarth in rounding the Woking goalkeeper.

It was captain Howarth who took the penalty stroke and concluded the scoring to make the final score 5-2.

Howarth said: “It was a brilliant team performance underpinned by a number of really good individual performances.”

With the outcome of the next three games likely to shape the outcome of Horsham’s season, the win comes at a crucial time.