Horsham assistant Westwood praises improved performance against Phoenix Sports

The Hornets ended a two-game losing run in the South Division on Saturday, as goals from George Landais and Toby Tolfrey secured a vital three points against Phoenix Sports at Culver Road.

Those league defeats were sandwiched between a disappointing Sussex Senior Cup exit to division-lower Pagham.

Westwood, who was in charge in the absence of manager Dominic Di Paola, was pleased to put that bad run behind them.

He said: “We decided to start taking the game to the opponents, rather than letting them bringing it onto us, and I think it worked first half, massively.

“The lads put everything into the game, it was a lot better than the last couple of weeks, where sometimes we’ve lacked a bit of vigour and determination, but we had it all on Saturday.

Following the team’s defeat to Pagham in the cup two weeks ago, where their performance was heavily criticised, Horsham had seen an upturn in performances.

Despite a 2-0 defeat to promotion chasing Corinthian Casuals last weekend, there were encouraging signs.

And this weekend’s victory saw the Hornets move up to 12th in the league standings.

Positive individual performances were something Westwood was delighted to see, he added: “We had quite a few great performances, Alfie Rogers came in and was superb, Lewis Hyde was also immense at the back, getting the young lads in is the way forward for us, I think.”

Horsham currently lie 15 points shy of the 61 that they achieved last season, as they continue to improve as a unit, however, a play-off push is still unlikely, with 16 points separating them from Greenwich Borough in sixth.

Westwood was keen to reiterate the teams desire to beat last seasons points tally an continue improving.

He said: “We just want to beat what we did last year, we have it difficult not having our own ground, or under-21s and under-18s, so I think what we’re doing at the moment is great.”