Combined Counties League Premier Division

Croydon 0

Horley Town 2

AFTER Saturday's dismal 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Met Police in the preliminary round of the FA Cup, Horley bounced back to winning ways on Bank Holiday Monday.

Two first half goals, from Gary Tomlinson and John Eldred, sealed the win for Horley, and eased the memory of Saturday.

"We actually started brightly against Met Police, but my son, Mark, got his boot struck in the turf and them got a nasty twist when a player collided with him," Gilbert Snr explained.

"He got taken off to hospital and while I was checking on him, Met Police took the resulting free-kick, went down the other end and scored.

"After that it was all downhill. It was just the luck of the draw and we missed Antony Jupp."

It was a very different Horley who travelled up to Croydon.

"There was energy, passion, good football and we were just moving the ball faster," Gilbert enthused.

"It's a good result against a very physical team and means we close the gap on mid-table.

"We play some good football sometimes and sooner or later we going to really put some goals past someone."

It was a bad start for Horley, when Tom Windsor, who was returning from injury, came off badly in a tackle and had to go off injured again after just three minutes.

Charlie Adsett went on the attack and the Croydon keeper saved at the second attempt on the edge of the box.

With eight minutes played Gary Tomlinson scored who in a goal mouth scramble saw the keeper smash the ball into Tomlinson and then into the net to put Town one nil up.

This was followed by a great move by Charlie Adsett who controlled the ball and flicked it onto Gary Tomlinson whose header went just wide of the upright.

Croydon then went on the attack but some great defending by Sam Lyons kept them out.

Town continued to play the football and dominate the game with attack after attack.

Town were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box and the ball took a deflection and John Eldred was on hand to fire into the back of the net.

With seven minutes left of the first half, Croydon piled on the pressure. First keeper Joe McLoughlin saved well and then some more great defending by Sam Lyons saw the ball cleared.

In the closing minutes of the half Charlie Adsett and Gary Tomlinson both had shot cleared in a goalmouth scramble.

On 54 minutes played Tomlinson broke through the centre and shot but it went just over the cross bar.

Adsett got into the box and the Croydon defender had to clear off the line. Town continued the pressure with more shot from Mark Scutter and David Brown.

At the other end Joe McLoughlin did a great save to keep a second clean sheet away from home in the league.

Town then were put under some pressure and McLoughlin did well punching the ball away and skipper Jupp was on hand with a great covering tackle.

Horley: McLoughlin, Agate, Windsor, Jupp , Lyons, Eldred, Hunter, T Gilbert, Tomlinson, Adsett, Brown. Subs: Aglim, Scutter, Poplett, Roffey.