It was a frustrating evening for Faversham Town, but the point earned for their 1-1 draw against Horsham has moved the Lillywhites up to 9th place in the Ryman South table.
The visitors hit the front inside two minutes through Liam Wright’s freekick, which would turn out to be their only shot on target on the night. A change in formation allowed Faversham to get a foothold in the game with Josh Stanford equalising in first half stoppage time, but try as they might, the hosts couldn’t break down a resolute Horsham defence.
Faversham manager, Ray Turner, had called for his side to build on their excellent performance on Saturday, when they beat playoff rivals Corinthian Casuals 3-0, but the start of the game was nothing like the home side expected. Horsham retained the ball from the kickoff and following a soft foul on Alfie Rogers, were awarded a central freekick 25 yards from goal. Liam Wright stepped up to exquisitely curl his shot over the wall into the top right hand corner giving Will Godmon no chance after just 66 seconds.
The new kickoff was the first time a Faversham player had touched the ball while in play, and the home side found it difficult to respond. Some tough Horsham tackling, singling out midfielder Daniel Carrington in particular, meant that there was little pattern to the play for most of the half, with tempers often boiling over. Josh Stanford and Scott Harris both saw yellow for a moment of handbags on halfway, with Matt Bourne, for a 1950’s style charge on goalkeeper Josh Pelling, and Scott Kirkwood, for yet another foul on Carrington, all receiving first half cautions.
Faversham started to gain more territory as the half wore on, with Sam Bewick’s set-pieces from the left wing particularly effective. His in-swinging corners put pressure on Pelling, and from one, Luke Harvey had a header cleared off the line by Alex Duncan. This followed a shot from Harvey that saw a rebound off both Pelling and the Faversham forward; Horsham’s blushes being save by Jordan Clark’s clearance.
The home side levelled the game in first half stoppage time through Harvey’s quick thinking. Godmon’s long clearance led to a foul on Bola Dawodu, who had been pushed up front to provide a physical presence. Harvey took the freekick quickly, rolling a pass to Stanford who was able to skate round Steve Metcalf’s challenge, and roll a shot past the advancing Pelling.
Faversham opened the second half on the front foot with Bewick forcing Pelling into a save, diving to his right, before Harvey headed wide from Renford Tenyue’s cross. From a similar position to Horsham’s goal in the first half, Stanford fired a left foot freekick past a static wall, and Pelling was fortunate to get a hand to the swerving ball, having already started to dive the wrong way.
The two Horsham centre backs, Ashley Jones and Jordan Clark, were struggling to cope with the physicality of Dawodu, and the makeshift forward was able to latch onto Jamie Maxted’s throughball, before lifting a shot over Pelling, stranded in no-man’s land, but the shot dropped past the left hand post.
Tenyue then had a fierce shot spilled by Pelling, but the goalkeeper recovered to pounce on the loose ball as it threatened to spin back towards the line. And Horsham managed a rare break, Adam Hunt finding Rogers, but the forward’s shot from distance was woefully high and wide.
Faversham continued to force the pace. Dawodu attempted a volleyed shot that bounced at Pelling, then a swift passing move opened up space for Bewick, but the midfielder dragged his shot across the face of goal.
As time ran out, Maxted and Jordan Casey combined on the left to feed a pass into Carrington, who could only lift his effort over the bar. And the final chance fell to Maxted, from a Bewick freekick, but the defender’s glanced header flew past the right upright.
Despite this result moving Faversham up two places, there are now five points between the Lillywhites and eighth placed Lewes and Turner admitted that his side now need a massive result at Greenwich Borough on Saturday to maintain their push for the playoff places. He added “They (Horsham) defended their box well and I can’t remember them doing anything other than the early freekick. You get games like this, it was very difficult for us to build up phases of play, which was frustrating, and that’s the main emotion tonight.”
“We were clearly the better side, but couldn’t find that winning goal. They were sitting so deep, so we had to make the change (Dawodu moving to the forward line) and it made us more combative. We were able to get hold of the ball and from then on we were always on top. I was hoping the second goal would come, but for some reason it didn’t happen for us.”
FAVERSHAM TOWN: Will Godmon, Ryan Cooper, Jamie Maxted, Daniel Carrington, Matt Bourne, Ryan Cheek, Sam Bewick, Bola Dawodu, Renford Tenyue, Luke Harvey (Jordan Casey 77), Josh Stanford.
Subs not used: Carl Rook, Luke Griffiths, David Blaikie.
Goals: Josh Stanford 45+2
Cautions: Josh Stanford 20, Matt Bourne 26
HORSHAM: Josh Pelling, Alex Duncan, Steve Metcalf, Scott Harris, Ashley Jones, Jordan Clark, Tom Lawley, Scott Kirkwood (Adam Hunt 69), Alfie Rogers, Ashley Robinson (George Gaskin 54), Liam Wright (James Thurgar 52).
Subs not used: Joe Smith.
Goals: Liam Wright 2
Cautions: Scott Harris 20, Scott Kirkwood 28, Tom Lawley 90+4
Attendance: 144
Referee: Mr Dean Skipper
Assistants: Mr Kevin Nicholson and Mr Paul Stratton