Horsham Hockey Club's men's senior side get campaign off to a dream start

With some home grown new faces, Horsham went one up in the third minute, Sean Pearcey nonchalantly converting a penalty flick.

And, they promptly doubled their lead, when, after two short corners, Matt Smart banged the ball home, before Horsham’s early dominance gave way to Old Wills attacks. Corners followed from each end, Horsham narrowly missing from theirs, ahead of a bodged clearance allowing the visitors to reduce the deficit just ahead of half time.

Re-starting, further short corners were traded with the Old Wills keeper called on to pull off two great saves, the second of which rebounded for Horsham to get the ball in the net, only for the goal to be disallowed. But, despite living slightly dangerously in a series on Old Wills attacks, a fabulous Horsham move found Harry Bubb who unleashed a cracker to put the outcome beyond doubt, Horsham winning 3-1 with newly promoted Old Williamsonians perhaps going to stuggle in higher company.

Horsham Captain Freddie Campbell told the County Times: “Our new coach Dom Male has really got the younger players firing.

"They all stepped-up and will take a lot of confidence out of this first win of the season. We were missing three players who would normally start, so this was a great result for us. Aldershot withdrawing from the league means that all teams will get two bye games – home and away when they should have played them – and we’ve already had one of ours, so, at the moment, other teams have a game in hand over us.

"We play Old Georgians (at Addlestone) on Saturday, and they’ve just whipped Canterbury 6-0 – we’ll have a challenge on our hands!”