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Boro opened their season at Priory Lane with the ‘customary’ friendly .v. Horsham FC, the match in support of the ‘Save The District General Hospital’ campaign, all gate money donated to the fund. Darren Baker started on the bench after injury, as did new signing Danny Leach.
The visitors opened the scoring after only 2 minutes when a defensive mix up allowed Dave Laubranch to slot the ball home unchallenged. However the lead was short lived as The Sports equalised after 7 minutes when Nathan Crabb delivered a superb right-wing cross onto the head of Pat Harding, the No 10’s glancing header left Alan Mansfield no chance and the scores were level.
The home side had the wind at their backs and the 1st 15 minutes was a fairly even affair after the early goals, both sides attempting to play attractive football on the floor. On 18 minutes Nathan Crabb was fouled wide right, tormenting the visitors right-back. His brother Matt delivered a pin-point cross from the free-kick onto Nathan’s head who managed to beat the keeper but strike the base of the left-hand post. Boro struck the same piece of woodwork on 25 minutes when good pressure won the ball back in midfield and Andy Atkin’s superb 30 yard left foot effort curled onto the post. Boro ran riot for the rest of the half with Nathan Crabb, Matt Crabb, Atkin, and Harding all having chances to grab the lead.
Half-time saw 4 substitutions for the visitors but Boro started where they left of with Atkin thwarted by Mansfield on 47 minutes. Atkin was replaced by Leach on 52 minutes, the 1st substitution for Boro that saw all 6 players on the bench get time on the park. Horsham threatened the home goal on 67 minutes, Marc Pullan required to head behind for a corner as the visitors threatened down the right flank. On 75 minutes Leach almost opened his Boro account when Harding rounded the keeper and squared for the ex Hailsham man, his shot blocked at the last minute by some desperate defending. A Horsham corner flashed across the face of the Boro goal on 77 minutes and Leach had a fine ‘lob’ saved by Mansfield. Ethan Strevett was just short of reaching a cross-come-shot on 85 minutes but Boro could just not force the ball home for a deserved win, 1-1 the final score, Paul Armstrong the usual dominant driving force in the heart of midfield.
Match Details - Webmaster.
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