Cringleford surrendered their long unbeaten record at the hands of Horsford's "best side ever assembled" (according to some of their players). It was a hugely frustrating afternoon, with some very good play and excellent goals mixed in with a few uncharacteristic errors at the back and missed chances up front. It's pushing it to say the visitors deserved to win, but a draw would have been just reward for a decent second half fightback. Cringleford lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Rich in goal, Pondy, Simon, Mark and Ben across the back, Rudi and Mick holding, Karl free, Finchy right and Shane left and Roger ploughing his ultimately frustrating furrow up front. The opening exchanges belonged almost entirely to the away side, and it looked only a matter of time before Cringleford scored...which means Horsford took the lead from the spot about 15 minutes in. Mark conceded the penalty, mistiming his tackle near the byline after a long ball towards their nippy striker - basically Horsford's only tactic in the early stages. Even then, when Shane levelled within minutes with a back header after a corner had been nodded in his direction by Rudi, it seemed Cringleford would soon assume control again. Shane and Roger both had good chances to confirm the visitors' superiority, but Horsford ended their first real spell of pressure with a fine strike from outside the box that struck the underside of the bar and cannoned in. That emboldened the home side, and for the rest of the half they were largely on top, adding a third when a speculative effort from their right swung away from Rich, struck the inside of the far post and bounced kindly into the path of a waiting Horsford player, all on his own two yards out to make the score 3-1. Subs Matt and Ginge came on at half time for Pondy and Mick, and by now the 4-2-3-1 had been abandoned in favour of 4-4-2, with Shane joining Roger up front, Matt left, Finchy right, Karl and Rudi in the middle and Ginge slotting in at right back. Cringleford pressed from the outset, and there was a bit more determination and bite in their tackles. The comeback looked on when Shane added his second from a tight angle from a fine through ball from Karl. The away side should have equalised when Matt capitalised on some sloppy play by the home defence, nipping between two dithering defenders and rounding the keeper before blazing over from an angle with just a defender on the line (definite bobble by the way...). It had now become an open game, with both attacks looking dangerous, and the home side restored their two-goal advantage when Rich attempted to play the ball out from a back pass by Simon, only to find a loitering Horsford striker rather than Ginge. A cutback and a neat, sidefooted volley and it was 4-2. Shane lobbed the keeper but unluckily struck the bar and was inches away from latching on to a through ball from Matt, but Horsford also had their chances and were handed a golden chance to make the game safe when Karl was adjudged to have upended a striker, who made the most of contact and threw himself to the ground somewhat theatrically in the box. This time, however, Rich guessed right and saved low to his left to keep the visitors' hopes alive. With only a couple of minutes on the clock - stopped regularly for blatant Horsford time-wasting - Shane grabbed his hat-trick with a superb lob from another good through ball from Karl. But it was too little, too late and Cringleford's slim chances of catching Quebec at the top are now surely over.
