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Rams topple promotion rivals Horsham

It's safe to say that Jim Ward got his message across after Saturday's bizarre 4-2 defeat against Bashley, writes Arran Ayres.

Cut out the errors was the gist of what the manager told his Ramsgate players - plus a fair bit more, you would think - and they responded with a faultless performance to topple promotion rivals Horsham. 

Ward said he was expecting a game and a half and while the first half was spoiled by players and the benches arguing with the referee, the second period was much more like it.

One goal, scored by man of the match Warren Schulz in the ninth minute, proved enough and Wardy was so happy that he bought a round after the game. 

An early coming together between Stefan Ball and John Westcott - Horsham thought Ball had deliberately used his elbow, though referee Martin Yerby felt otherwise - set the tone for all the bickering in a scrappy half.

It continued after the break, the highlight a spot of handbags between Rams assistant Danny Ward and Horsham coach who both run to get the ball in full view of the home crowd.

Rams had a couple of early chances with Ball just failing to connect with Stuart Vahid's cross.  Then the frontman brought a save from Gary Elliott after Ollie Schulz and Shaun Welford combined in the air.  There was nothing scrappy about Ramsgate's goal; it was sheer quality, as Warren Schulz - so often the creator with some brilliant passing - opened the scoring. 

Liam Morris started the move with a fine pass out of defence, which was chested down by Ball and laid off to Schulz who buried the ball in the bottom left hand corner from the edge of the box. The Rams continued to work hard, with some very good passing play and Welford long throws were causing Horsham problems all night, other first half chances saw Ollie Schulz's shot blocked and Mark Munday fired over from Welford's pass after he intercepted Tom Graves' pass across his own goal.

Ball saw a free-kick tipped over, Munday headed inches wide from the resulting corner and Stuart Vahid, in for Shane Suter, fired wide from Munday's fine pass. Horsham never really troubled Rams keeper Danny Twyman, with Jamie Taylor and Matt Geard wasting their best chances after good build-up. He showed safe hands, though, after Saturday's blip to save Westcott's free-kick. 

The last 20 minutes saw some good football played by both teams, Horsham were getting frustrated because they could not find a way pass the watertight Rams backline.

Warren Schulz came into his own towards the end, his superb defence splitting passes creating chance after chance. The best saw Ball volley over the bar after Welford latched onto a pass from Schulz and crossed for his strike partner.  

Horsham had a few chances in the final minutes, the best of which fell to Peter Crouch lookalike Dominik Hudak who unbelievably fluffed his effort wide when well placed during the eight minutes of injury time.

The final whistle did come on the 98th minute, to the delight of Jim Ward. It was an excellent team performance and 3 points in the bag.

This Saturday (8th) is another big test, as the Rams are HOME to Walton & Hersham in FA Cup third qualifying round. Kick Off is 3pm

Instead of sitting in a pub or at home on a Saturday afternoon screaming at the television watching Sven's men, why don't you go to Southwood and cheer on the Rams in action.....