Byatt Swats Hornet's Buzz

The inspired introduction of Jamie Byatt clinched all three points for Corinthian Casuals as an eighty-third minute winner devastated the gritty Horsham and relieved creative Casuals on a wintry Saturday afternoon.

Hoping to return to winning ways, Casuals were up against Horsham FC, who are maintaining a solid midtable position at the moment. The Hornets, based in West Sussex, recently felt the wrath of Dorking- but on a monumental scale. Conceding an enormous seven goals, Horsham left Westhumble on Tuesday with a 7-1 defeat. The Corinthians starting lineup featured four changes from the loss to Egham. Max Oldham was replaced by Shaun Okojie whilst Juevan Spencer reverted to the right wing leaving Josh Uzun to take his place up-front. An unchanged defence, James Bracken opted for two switches in the midfield – Mahrez Bettache sitting out on the bench ahead of Josh Gallagher. Also, Joe Hicks was recalled by parent club Hampton & Richmond so the slot in midfield was grabbed by the explosive Brandon Johnson.

As soon as the referee blew his whistle to start the game, a high, fast-paced tempo was set immediately as the Casuals wing men bombed down the flanks and produced cross after cross early on. Distributing the ball across King George’s, Warren Morgan had enough of passing and ventured on one of his trademark mazy runs towards the area. Skipping past Horsham’s Tom Lawley, the right back dribbled past two other yellow shirts before teeing Jordan Clarke on the edge of the box. Timed to perfection, Clarke’s effort took a deflection off a Hornet defender before rolling out for a corner.

Ten minutes later, Casuals still dominated the chances. Barcelona-esque, the triangle of Johnson, Clarke and Morgan produced another delightful passage of play as Johnson lifted a pin-point pass for Morgan. The full-back plucked the ball from the air masterfully before crossing to the open Okojie in the six-yard box. The terrific move was agonisingly spurned as Okojie’s powerful effort hammered against the crossbar- Horsham were spared. Or were they? Approaching half-time, Casuals were determined to leave the pitch 1-0 up. The uplifting presence of the positive Josh Gallagher was a huge advantage as the midfielder edged towards the box before perfectly setting up Josh Uzun through on goal. Taking a touch, Uzun slotted the ball past Josh Pelling to score.

Half-time tea downed, floodlights ignited, the game re-started, the high tempo of the first half deteriorated as Horsham slowly seized a grip on the game for the first time in the match. Despite the switch in domination, it still surprised the gutted Casuals contingent when Lawley impressively side-footed the ball into the top corner during a well-worked move. The whole Horsham team celebrated as the travelling fans finally had something to shout about.

However, James Bracken had a neat substitutes bench up his sleeve and decided to boldly use all three changes in one roll of the dice. The energetic Max Oldham, the skilful Mahrez Bettache and the diligent Jamie Byatt were trusted to instil a winning goal into thecurrently-lifeless Casuals. One of them did. Attacking Horsham where they were most tired, Dave Hodges sprinted down the line and played a low cross towards the oncoming Byatt. First-time, ‘Busy’ thumped the ball into the bottom left corner, leaving the keeper with no chance. With only seven minutes to go, the club-legend had won the game for Casuals- cue frenzied celebrations as the striker ran into the jubilant crowd. Not getting ahead of themselves, Bracken’s pink and brown army defended for their lives late on to secure a well-deserved three points. Corinthians face Three Bridges on Tuesday before a home fixture on Saturday against Herne Bay.

Photo credit: Stuart Tree

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