Loss to Crawley Down Gatwick is setback to Horsham YM’s play-off bid

With Guernsey beating Peacehaven and Telscombe 6-0, YM drop one place to fourth in the SCFL premier table.

With two early corners and two shots at goal, YM won the early plaudits only for CDG – who are in the lower reaches of the table – to open the scoring on the quarter-hour mark from a Will Harley header against the run of play.

Seven minutes later they scored again through Regan Davis, despite YM creating more chances.

The first half ended with a YM close-range free-kick and corner, but they trailed 0-2 at the break.

Resuming strongly, YM had a strike palmed away for a corner and then had a free-kick scrambled away before CDG keeper Alex Bellingham headed the ball clear from outside the area.

Then, after a CDG corner midway through the second half, Zion McCleod scored for YM, who kept pressing, forcing a good save from Bellingham and earning two corners, between which Oli Leslie tested Sam Freeman in the YM goal.

A late CDG opportunity came to nothing, until, in added time, with YM pressing for a point, keeper Freeman joined the attack with YM thrusting forward. The foray was repelled, and with Freeman trapped in the box, CDG’s Harley broke away to score again.

There was just enough time for Noel Fisher to net YM’s second, but a further attempt went wide, leaving YM to rue what might have been.

Boss Liam Giles told the County Times: “This result was coming – although we’d been winning we haven’t been playing well.

"Sides are coming here trying hard to beat us and we could see how much it meant for our opposition, but this is just a bump in the road – we’ve still got five matches left.”

On Saturday YM travel to take on 12th-placed Forest Row, then, on Easter Monday they host a local derby versus 10th-placed Roffey (11am), looking to avenge the defeat against their near neighbours over Christmas.