Campbell relishing putting trips past the Thames behind them

A pattern is emerging in games Horsham play the moment they go north of the London river. They ship early goals to give the opponents the advantage, make a heroic comeback, and just fail to get a result.

That was again the case on Saturday as they went down 4-3 to Marlow after fighting back from 3-0.

Campbell said: “For the fifth time this season the officials were being assessed and they didn’t exactly cover themselves with glory.

“Then again, neither did our defence which is becoming as predictable as a pantomime.

“We’ve not taken a single point north of the Thames – luckily after the break we stay well south of it.’

Horsham started very strongly and, after seven minutes, should have had a penalty when a defender stopped a Jack Dean shot on the line with his body, but the umpire denied the appeal.

Horsham had 65 per cent of the possession in the first half, but found themselves 2-0 down at half-time due to break-away goals.

Shortly after the restart, Horsham were further in deficit when the home side converted their first short corner.

Then the fight back started as Horsham rearranged the line-up and the attack finally clicked. First Matt Hough converted a short corner; then Burroughs scored a fine individual effort before Cirdec Atkinson forced home from another corner.

At 3-3 with 15 minutes left to play the game was all Horsham, with Marlow losing discipline under pressure and incurring the wrath of the officials.

It seemed a yellow card was inevitable but, bizarrely, Horsham sweeper Seye Akande was sent off for a seemingly innocuous tackle. And reduced to 10 men, Horsham lost the impetus.

Dom Male’s men still fancied their chances, but the game slipped away when a Marlow player clearly kicked the ball in midfield, the Horsham defence waited for a whistle that never came, and a Marlow forward pounced to net the winner.

Horsham return to action on January 10 with a home match against Brighton and Hove.