Ryman League: Horsham go second

9:55pm Monday 25th August 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Horsham leapt into second spot in the premier division table with an emphatic 5-1 victory at fellow early pacesetters Carshalton.

The Hornets extended their own 100% record and ended the Robins’ in the process as Lee Carey, Gary Charman, Liam Baitup, Russell Eldridge and Mark Knee all netted.

Carey gave Horsham the perfect start when his free-kick found the net with less than a minute played.

The hosts rallied and equalised on 35 minutes through Dean Carpenter but two goals in five minutes by Charman and Baitup, either side of the interval, made it 3-1 to John Maggs’ side.

The game was put beyond Robins’ grasp when Eldridge surged forward to convert Lee Carney’s pass.

Knee completed the rout late on to record Horsham’s biggest ever victory against the Surrey club.

Hastings United crashed to a comprehensive 4-0 defeat at home to Maidstone United.

The U’s were outplayed for long spells but it needed three late goals to give the scoreline a more realistic look.

Maidstone dominated the early exchanges and only a combination of goalkeeper Greg Nessling and full-back Danny Spice prevented Elliott Bradbrook from opening the scoring after only two minutes.

The visitors took the lead on 13 minutes when a long cross to the back post was met by Bradbrook and his header fell invitingly for James Pinnock to stab over the line.

Hastings roused themselves for the closing quarter-of-an-hour of the first half and were unlucky not to go in all square at the interval as Marc Whiteman saw his firm drive smack against the post.

The Stones regained control of the match despite Nessling’s heroics.

Pinnock doubled the advantage 12 minutes from time after Hastings failed to clear a corner and the striker completed his hat-trick seven minutes later.

Roland Edge added a fourth just before the final whistle.