Stuck in the mud!

Ashford themselves are pushing for the second promotion spot behind runaway leaders Maidstone and were weakened by several regulars choosing to spend the afternoon watching England at Twickenham instead.

The game was played in extremely heavy conditions, and even with the players wearing long studs it was more akin to watching “Bambi on Ice”, with mistakes high on both sides from the comedy of errors.

Horsham opted to play into a stiff wind, and found it difficult to break-out of their half, due to a combination of the pitch and the relentless pressure from Ashford. Horsham’s scrum was solid, and Jonathan Whiting at Number 8 provided a stable platform for scrum-half Will Johnson to launch his clearance kicks but on each occasion relief was temporary and tackles were required from Rob Clegg, Sam Bell and Nick Bell to prevent probable scores. On 11 minutes the pressure finally told and with Johnson’s kick lacking direction, it was run back by Ashford and after a wide pass to their captain and centre Pete Walsh, he burst through the gap to score.

Horsham’s attacking play was restricted to an isolated break by Sam Bell, but the support did not arrive quickly enough to build a field position, and on 29 minutes Walsh ran a good line to cut through the Horsham defence to score his second and with both tries having been converted , Horsham arrived at half time 14-0 down.

The feeling from many in the crowd was that with the wind at Horsham’s backs, a fourteen point deficit could be retrieved, but the windy conditions started to calm down and was no longer such a factor in the game. Jamie Gibbs started to refind the elusive running skills that had been a feature of his play on the hard grounds of earlier this season before his injury lay-off, and it appeared to be only a matter of time before Horsham would score but on each occasion the final pass was sloppy. After a wonderful 40 yard break by Gibbs cutting the Ashford defence to shreds Horsham would surely have scored if he had given a better pass to Tyler Aitken in support, but Aitken had to check his run and slipped. A few minutes later Sam Bell and Gibbs again combined and this time made 50 yards but again there was no end product.

With greater control of the ball than Horsham had in the first half, Ashford managed to make light of the conditions and built an attacking position whereby they won a penalty and opted to kick at goal. The kick rebounded off the posts and was caught by Walsh who almost scored, but from the ensuing scrum Johnson and Gibbs raced 70 yards down the field but the attack came to nought after a poor final pass.

Horsham were now starting to assert some superiority and it was only a matter of time before they finally scored. Gibbs went on another mazy run and chased up his own chip ahead to force a knock-on. From the five yard scrum, Jonathan Whiting picked up at the base to almost score, and then when the ball squirted free, Johnson nearly won the race to touchdown but secured another five yard scrum. This time Jonathan Whiting gathered following a solid drive and proved unstoppable to open Horsham’s account on 71 minutes, and Johnson converted to close the deficit to seven points. Unfortunately for Horsham as they sought another score, poor handling in midfield saw Walsh gather the loose ball and race in from the halfway line to seal the win for Ashford.

Coach Nick Stocker said:“The game was deeply frustrating. We played nowhere near the standards we expect. We didn’t throw enough energy into hitting the breakdown and too many players stood off. Despite some great breaks from the likes of Jamie Gibbs we let ourselves down with poor passing and did not play with the accuracy required.”

Horsham: Talbot, Stone (Jones 71), Barber (C); Grover, Matterface; N Bell (Fisher 28), Clegg , Jonathan Whiting; Johnson, Price; Ordidge (Brown 40), Aitken; James Whiting, Gibbs, S Bell.