Heath come from behind but disappointed with a draw
A Tuesday night under the lights played host to Heath’s first home game of the season, against Horsham YMCA in the Southern Combination Football League. Fans had turned up in their hundreds to come and cheer on the Heath as they looked to get their first win of the new season. Horsham had been involved in a 1-1 draw in their first game as well, meaning they too were determined to take all 3 points home with them.
It was the Heath who started the fastest, with Hayden Skerry sliding in Charlie Pitcher, but the Horsham goalie was able to come out and combined with the defender they got something on it to put it behind for the corner. A couple of early yellows for the visitors, made it seem like the blues were in total control, creating plenty of chances. It was another brilliant run down the left from Skerry, charging into the penalty area where the ball was deflected, almost into the Horsham net had it not been for some good reactions again from the goalkeeper.
After The Blues had the better of Horsham in the early exchanges, a switch of play from the away side opened up the Heath defence, where a drilled strike into the bottom left corner from inside the box gave Alfie Jones no chance as it put the visitors ahead midway through the first half. The Heath weren’t going to be stopped there though as they kept pushing for that equaliser before the break. A sharp double save from the Horsham goalkeeper again denied the Heath what looked to be a certain goal. Some more near misses made some people start to question whether it was going to be the Heath’s day. Another poor tackle from Horsham showed that Heath were causing problems and before the end of the first half, Hayden Skerry had given the hosts what he thought was an equaliser, only for the linesman to signal that the ball had gone out of play. The Heath went in at half time trailing but fans were positive that there was still enough time for Heath to pull one back.
It was a relatively quiet start to the second half, with Horsham trying to create some chances, until the Blues began to find their rhythm again. A couple of changes from the hosts put a bit more energy into their play, with another chance denied as the attempt from Micheal Uwezu was close to the goalkeeper. Another close chance as the corner from Heath seemed to somehow miss everyone but the pressure was really mounting on the Horsham defence. The Heath faced another setback, after George Brown was sent to the sin bin by the referee, but The Blues were able to stand firm even with their one man disadvantage. Time was beginning to run out, but the fans were still in full voice trying to support the team, and it was Adrian Britton’s fantastic strike from outside of the box into the bottom left corner, which gave The Heath a stunning equaliser that was definitely deserved on the balance of play across the ninety.
The Blues weren’t going to settle for the draw though, doing everything to create chances, making for quite a frantic finish. Ultimately though, the Horsham defence was able to stand firm for the last few minutes and the Heath didn’t have enough time to grab a winner despite their best efforts. It meant that it was two points from the first two games for the Heath. Perhaps it could have been a more favourable result, but the Blues return to Hanbury for their FA Cup match on Saturday, unbeaten from their first two league games.
