Horsham draw is another pointer towards Chichester's progress
On a very heavy pitch, opponents YM took time to get going but gradually began to turn the screw. A dangerous free-kick from Dan Sullivan on 25 minutes skimmed across the goalmouth before Brad Curtis opened the scoring ten minutes later, producing a speedy run down the right and rifling an unstoppable shot into the net.
But it didn’t take long to for the equaliser to arrive. The ball was over-cautiously headed out for a City corner on 41 minutes and Morgan Forry’s delivery was headed in by left-back Gareth Sanashee.
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Hide AdYM continued to cause problems after the break. On 55 minutes, a Liam Hunter free-kick was half-cleared and Curtis’ powerful rebound shot needed an excellent save from Anthony Ender.
And four minutes later City were made to pay for again not clearing the ball when a YM corner led to a drilled shot from Martin Smith on the edge of the box that took a deflection off a defender on its way into the goal.
Both Alex Ansa and George Landais netted for Chichester, but both were ruled out by the officials.
Then, with 16 minutes left, came the equaliser. Landais unleashed an epic 40-yard solo run down the right, cutting in perfectly before firing a beauty into the far corner of the net.
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Hide AdChichester had a chance to claim a winning goal late on when Forry broke through, but the winger was brought down heavily and an advantage played by the referee came to nothing.
“It was very disappointing to go in 1-1 at half-time, because we got our noses in front and then from a set piece they had a free header in the 6-yard box,” said YM boss Peter Buckland.
“Chichester are a good little side in the making. They are very young, but what they lack in experience they certainly make up for with real honest endeavour and work-rate,” added Buckland.
CITY: Ender, Heath, Sanashee, Boniface, Hibbert, Cody, F Smith, Killner, Landais, Ansa, Forry. Sub: Groom.