‘Taking pride in way we defend box’ - Meeney on tactics that clinched Horsham the Sussex Senior Cup

Reece Myles-Meekums, Shamir Fenelon and Daniel Ajakaiye scored the goals that secured a 3-0 win over Hastings and gave Horsham their first Sussex Senior Cup success since 1976.

Horsham controlled the game well, solid both going forward and when defending.

Meeney, right-hand man to Dominic Di Paola, was very pleased with his team for keeping a clean sheet in a final and revealed the tactical thinking behind the defensive display Horsham showed, including what they did to stop Hastings’ star man Davide Rodari, who has scored more than 30 goals this season.

He said: “We had a plus one in the back line at all times, we tried to have as much coverage of the pitch with the way we set up.

"We had to tweak it early stages ... they were having a little bit of success getting out and more so down the left-hand side, and when we were jumping he (Rodari)was a little bit out of sync and was able to pop some balls into where they have overloaded in the pitch, but it was always if Rodari stepped up, one of our central defenders follows for a man-to-man job.

“Of course we had that plus one in the back line. Still important that we plugged that gap behind because if you don’t commit to the ball; if they did get higher up the pitch it was all about stopping crosses but making sure we were marking tightly in the box.

“Taking pride in the way we do defend our box, that’s why I am buzzing about a clean sheet in a cup game.

Horsham scored three well-taken goals and could have had more with numerous attacks and even a few wasted opportunities in front of goal.

Meeney said: “We knew we would get one v ones in overloads in wide areas, the way they were trying to get bodies in the centre of the pitch, we had one shape out of possession, one shape in possession and the reason is you have to be smooth in the transition and make sure you retain the ball.

“If we had opportunities to go three v three we would go. If not, then it was on for our full-backs to go and join them to create two v ones, then it was about crashing the box, making sure people want to get in the right areas to score goals, the quality of the delivery, the timing of the delivery, the timing of the runs, and I think we saw that.”