Horsham buoyed for Easter derby double against Crawley Down and Worthing

Simon Colbran says his Horsham side’s first win this year means they go into Easter games against local rivals Crawley Down and Worthing with renewed confidence.
Horsham's last meeting with Crawley Down ended in a 4-1 defeatHorsham's last meeting with Crawley Down ended in a 4-1 defeat
Horsham's last meeting with Crawley Down ended in a 4-1 defeat

The battling 2-0 win at home to Whitstable Town on Tuesday night was the Hornets’ first three points since December 29.

It lifted them out of the bottom two in the Ryman South table and comes just in time for “massive” games away at the Anvils on Saturday and at home to the Rebels on Easter Monday.

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“They’re two massive local games,” Colbran said. “And with local derbies you never know which way they’re going to go.

“What we can do is make sure we’re up for it more than they are. Winning 2-0 against Whitstable will give us massive confidence going into them.”

Colbran’s Horsham earned a fine win against Worthing in atrocious conditions at Woodside Road on Boxing Day. But they will be wary of the goal-scoring threat posed by former striker Billy Medlock, who has been scoring for fun since leaving to join the Rebels at the start of the year.

Horsham will also be hoping to put up a better fight against John Maggs’s Crawley Down this time around, having been soundly beaten 4-1 at Gorings Mead on New Year’s Day.

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The manager has always refused to believe his side were heading for the drop despite going 14 games without a win before Tuesday. And Colbran reckons two more victories from the final eight league matches will be enough to guarantee survival.

He said: “We have stayed positive right the way through, we’ve never once looked like throwing the towel in. We got ourselves into a position that we should never have been in so it’s up to us, and the players to get us out.

“We still are (in danger), I reckon we need two more wins to make sure we’re safe but that win (over Whitstable) was so important. Now we’ve got something to build on.”

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