Hove hit back for victory in dramatic derby at Coolhurst

Hove eventually won 32-28 at the fifth attempt in a dramatic local derby in London 2 South East at Hammerpond Road.

But Stocker pointed to his side’s relative inexperience as they allowed their emotions to spill over in a frantic end to the match during which they conceded four tries to lose the local derby battle.

He said: “It was frustrating as we had a healthy lead but we could not close the game out.

“We lost our discipline and had two players sin-binned for the last 13 minutes and it counted against us. We switched off and it cost us the game.”

Hove scored an early try with a ball spun wide following a driven line-out, but Horsham responded with three tries in the space of five minutes to take a commanding 21-5 lead into half-time.

Nick Bell touched down following a drive off a line-out, Joe Wilde attacked the space to score from 30 yards after some fine multi-phase play with numerous hands involved. Tom Johnson converted both tries from close to the touchline.

Following pressure from the kick-off, George Palmer broke down the wing to ground the ball in the corner but a high tackle resulted in a penalty try converted by Tom Johnson.

Horsham were affected by Johnson going off injured at half-time and Hove opened the scoring with a contested try after winning the footrace following a chip over the top which Nick Bell appeared to have grounded first.

Multiple phase pick-and-go play led to Johnny Ordidge powering through to score on 46 minutes, converted by Will Bell, with Horsham taking a 28-10 lead.

But those were the last points Horsham were to score as they were disrupted by injury, and missed a couple of straight-forward kicks at goal to build an unassailable lead.