YM hold Bridges in thrilling friendly
Car park spaces at Horsham YMCA’s Family Lawyers’ Stadium were at a premium last Friday night, with late comers missing early goals when Three Bridges visited for a pre-season warm up.
YM soon found themselves two down, but fought back strongly, earning praise from manager Dean Carden, who said: “This was a really positive evening for us – we trusted and stuck to the plan we’d drawn up and fully deserved the hard fought draw against more senior opposition.”
In the first ten minutes Bridges called the shots, Ben Bacon putting them in front, before Brannon O’Neil promptly doubled the visitors’ lead from a shot in the area.
But YM reduced the deficit on the quarter-of-an-hour mark, Luke Donaldson neatly finishing off Toby Funnel’s pin point cross.
Then, within five minutes YM equalised, Charlie Maguire firing home with a low shot to the right following a thrusting breakthrough.
And, it got even better for YM when, just before the break, from a corner the Bridges’ keeper dropped the ball in the crowded box for YM to benefit from an own goal, taking them into the break leading 3-2.
With an hour gone, YM conceded the first and closest of three free kicks outside the area, Curtis Gayler blasting goal-wards to level the score.
In their opening SCFL Premier fixture of the new season, this Saturday YM host Eastbourne Town at Gorings Mead and then make history with a trip to Jersey Bulls on August 7 in the FA Cup extra preliminary round.