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Chelmsford City 5-0 Horsham, Saturday 10th March 2007, Chelmsford Sport & Athletics Centre, Kick-Off 3:00pm, Ryman League Premier Division.
Another emphatic victory, thanks to goals from Lee Boylan [2], Kezie Ibe [2] and Jason Hallett sent the Clarets rocketing to the top of the League at the expense of shell-shocked Horsham. The Sussex side, positioned in a respectable top seven place in the Ryman Premier before the start of play, were blown away by a dominant City side who re-gained a place at the summit. A.F.C. Wimbledon and Bromley made way as an incredible set of results elsewhere strengthened Chelmsford's position as title challengers. Injuries to Mario Noto and Steve Ward meant the Management Team were forced into changing an in-form side. Stuart Ainsley took Noto's place in a re-shaped midfield while Bryan Glover moved along from full-back into the centre of defence to make way for Jay Conroy to return on the right. Horsham themselves fielded an amended line-up, with injuries and suspensions of their own to tackle. City were on the offensive right from the first whistle and in the 2nd minute Boylan's ball inside from the left wing found Fiston Manuella on the run into the penalty box which resulted in a low effort that crept wide. Shortly afterwards skipper Eddie French almost opened the visitors' account as he helped the ball just wide after a frantic scramble in the Chelmsford danger zone. On 9 minutes Ricky Holmes hammered a delivery across the face of Horsham goalkeeper Alan Mansfield's goal which the stopper was forced to beat away to safety and Spencer Knight was unable to make full use of the follow-up. Holmes also escaped his marker a few minutes later and lobbed Jeff Minton's pass onto the roof of the net after beating the advancing Mansfield. Eventually the pressure told, with Boylan getting his name on the score-sheet for the first time courtesy of a splendid 17th-minute opener from Minton's through ball. He found space to the left of the goal and half-volleyed emphatically into the net from fifteen yards to put the Clarets deservedly in front. Within six minutes this advantage was doubled. Ibe shrugged-off the physical attentions of a Horsham defender on his way to making a chance out of nothing by taking-on Boylan's pass before striking low past Mansfield. Another experience of a three-goal interval advantage then looked on the cards once more upon the arrival of the third City goal in the 33rd minute, Holmes wriggling into the box and seeing his strike parried to the feet of Boylan who rotated and poked home his second. Horsham's game was left in tatters though they went close to starting a resurgence seven minutes before the break, Lee Carney seeing his swerving free-kick from out wide find the net but be ruled-out due to an infringement in the box on its way in. The Hornets were nearly made to regret that moment even more seconds prior to the interval when Boylan was set free to drag back inside and shoot at the palms of Mansfield, in turn supplying Ainsley for a deflected strike wide. Normal service was resumed, however, in the second half as Ibe once more latched-onto the ball inside the opposition's half and dribbled forwards in a skilful fashion then dispatching low into the net for a 59th-minute fourth goal. The visitors were not used to such heavy beatings based on their previous results in their first Ryman Premier campaign and they thought they'd reduced the arrears on 62 minutes when Carl Rook tapped-in from a few yards. They were soon to be frustrated again, though, as the Assistant Referee's flag indicated an offside decision was reached. Around the last quarter of the match, Manuella tested the 'keeper with a shot from distance and Boylan's pace saw him round Mansfield with a sniff of a hat-trick. This was denied him by the width of the crossbar following a desperate clearance by a defender to re-direct his goal-bound effort. Jason Hallett was brought on for Boylan with twelve minutes remaining and his impact was almost instant, latching onto a pass behind the defence five minutes later and finishing wide of the Horsham custodian to upgrade a big win into a thrashing. Being able to make use of such a talented squad must surely bode well for the rest of the campaign with Chelmsford on hot form and gunning for promotion. City: 1 Ashley Harrison Horsham: Alan Mansfield, Tom Graves, Nigel Brace, Eddie French, Kevin Hemsley, Matthew Gaera, Lee Carney, John Westcott, Kevin Cooper, Carl Rook, Jamie Baxter. ubs: Stuart Myall, Gary Charman, Dean Wright, Gareth Williams. Bookings: City: Minton (35, foul), Ainsley (57, delaying the restart). Horsham: Westcott (12, foul), Rook (62, dissent), French (85, foul). Referee: T.M. Moffatt (Colchester). Assistant Referees: A.P. Snell (Little Clacton) and C. Sumner (Sudbury). Attendance: 1,231. City Man of the Match: Kezie Ibe. |
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By
Chris Evans
(Picture by Matt Bradshaw)
