By Andrew Finch

The New Defence used to be a happy hunting ground for the Moles, with seven points and ten goals during their first three Combined Counties League visits.

However, they have now lost the subsequent three trips without scoring, and although they had the better goalscoring opportunities it was the hosts - scrapping for their lives at the wrong end of the division - who looked hungrier to gain the three points.

The Moles had completed just three fixtures in the previous 73 days so were understandably rusty, with the hosts having completed double that amount in the same period. It was Horley who started brighter, with Lewis Forsdick drawing a good save from Wester Young having breached the Moles' offside trap.

The Moles got into the game as the half wore on, with Matt Baxter forcing a point blank save from George Hyde, who then pulled off more routine stops from James McShane and Baxter.

In contrast to their lacklustre opening 45 minutes, the Moles were dominant during the opening 20 minutes of the second half, but as has been the case so often this season they failed to take their chances and fell behind during their best spell, which shifted momentum back into the hosts' favour.

A scramble in the home box resulted in no fewer than three goalline clearances, with Baxter, Luke Elliott and Kristian Webb all being denied in quick succession by terrific last-ditch goalkeeping or defending, and moment later Webb's superb acrobatic volley was tipped over the bar by Hyde.

Craig Lewington's corner kissed the crossbar on the way out of play, and McShane's free kick was turned onto the crossbar by the fingertips of Hyde. Horley failed to clear their lines and the ball fell invitingly to Nick White, who should have done better than to blaze over from 7 yards.

The winning goal was entirely preventable, as a low cross that came in from the right was spilled by Young at his near post and turned in from close range by Kyle Hough.

Hough then had another effort kept out by Young, whilst Moles substitute Joe Crook drove a volley over the bar.

Horley's blatant yet understandable attempts to time-waste could have been their downfall when Hyde threw the ball out of play when a home defender was simply slow to get to his feet following the breakdown of a Molesey attack.

Substitute Ashby Charles took a quick throw to Baxter, who sportingly and perhaps unnecessarily allowed the ball to roll to the opposition defence when in a promising position, to his team-mates' obvious fury.

To add insult to injury, in an attempt to win the ball back Baxter was then harshly booked for catching a home defender, although that aberration aside the ref otherwise had a fine game.

The Moles still find themselves in the top 6, although with the nine teams below them separated by just seven points and all bar two with games in hand they will hope to embark on a prolonged unbeaten run during the season's frantic finale in order to avoid a disappointing drift down to mid table.