John Maggs is thanking his lucky stars Rob Collins thought twice about walking out on Horsham.

The former Crawley striker was Hornets' match winner for the second successive game as they beat in-form Ashford Town (Middlesex) 1-0 at Queen Street last night.

Collins, who was thought to be leaving the club a week ago, expertly guided home a header on four minutes from James Bird's left-wing cross as patched-up Horsham ended the Middlesex side's run of ten points from four games.

It was an unconvincing display from the hosts, whose absentees included frontrunners Gavin Geddes and Gary Charman, both suffering from 'flu, but a victory sent them second in division one south.

Boss Maggs said: "Rob Collins won the game for us on Saturday and he's won this game as well with his goal and his work rate. He's back and I'm delighted.

"We've scraped through. I asked for six points from these two games and we got them, but I'm certainly not happy with the performance."

Visiting goalkeeper Tony Wells made sharp saves from another Collins header and Dave Flemming's angled shot shortly after the goal but from then on the visitors were generally on top.

Anthony Eggington shot wide of an open goal on 23 minutes and former Lewes midfielder Andy Driscoll fired against the crossbar after the break.

Ian Chatfield blocked a fierce Ross Davidson free kick late on but Horsham, with skipper Eddie French again outstanding at the back, held on.

As well as the points, their other bonus from the evening was a busy 68-minute display by Steve Payne on his comeback from illness.

Bognor were outmuscled and outfought as they went down 3-1 away to Whyteleafe.

Rocks found themselves a goal behind as early as the 11th minute when a long punt forward from Danny Rose saw former Crawley striker Mark Hynes break in behind the defence and beat the advancing Pat Lawrence with a smart finish.

A second goal followed on 23 minutes when Stuart Massey set up Paul Scott who slid the ball home.

Rocks had a chance to pull a goal back when Matt Russell was brought down for a penalty but Michael Birmingham's spot kick crashed against the top of the bar.

Scott scored his second of the game with a header to wrap up victory for the home side.

Lee Stevens reduced the deficit on 73 minutes from Guy Rutherford's pass but it was no more than a consolation.