Horsham YMCA challenged to go on a run and the ‘world could be a very different place’

Three straight defeats have seen YM fall ten points behind leaders Chichester and eight behind second-placed Newhaven, who won 1-0 over Lancing on Tuesday night.

Despite a 5-3 defeat to Hassocks on Saturday, boss Peter Buckland praised the ‘guts and character’ after they fought back from 4-0 down.

While admitting the league is Chichester’s to lose, he now wants his side to put together another winnning run.

Buckland said: “I won’t chuck it in until it is mathematically impossible, neither will the players. The league is Chichester’s to throw away, but all we can do is take it one game at a time.

“We still have to play Newhaven so we could cut their lead by three points without anyone else being involved. We just have to worry about ourselves now though.

“The players showed to me in the second half at Hassocks that they have a lot of guts and character. We will take each game as it comes and hopefully we will get some of the walking wounded back. The world could be a very different place if we go on one of those runs now until the end of the season.”

Injuries have been a massive problem this season and while captain Ash Dugdale is back, Luke Donaldson broke down in the warm-up on Saturday. YM, who go to Peacehaven on this weekend, will also be missing Tom Gilbert until March.