Essex Senior Cup: Colchester 8 Hornchurch 0
Hornchurch were sent crashing to a fourth successive defeat in four different competitions on a night to forget at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.
Beaten by Boreham Wood (FA Cup), Romford (Ryman North) and Met Police (FA Trophy) in their last three outings, Jimmy McFarlane’s men conceded three times in a four-minute spell early in the first half to end this third-round tie as a contest.
And a young Colchester side added five more goals after the restart to dump a deflated Urchins well and truly out.
Hornchurch had been well beaten on their two previous visits to Colchester’s modern home, going down 6-0 and 4-1, and had also lost the 2009/10 final to the U’s.
And the home fans were chanting “we want 10” after seeing Colchester go 3-0 up inside 12 minutes.
Sam Mott was out quickly to smother at the feet of Drey Wright in the second minute and dived low to his right to save Tom Lapslie’s drive in the fifth minute, after Hornchurch’s Abs Thompson had produced a good run on the right wing, and then produced a stunning point-blank save to deny Macaulay Bonne from Wright’s left-wing cross with barely six minutes on the clock.
But there was no keeping out Wright’s penalty on eight minutes, after a Hornchurch player was adjudged to have handled in the box.
And it was 2-0 after only 11 minutes when Dion Sembie-Ferris poked home from close range when a low cross was deflected into the six-yard box.
Jack Curtis stabbed home a third less than a minute later when Bonne beat the offside trap on the left and squared the ball, leaving Hornchurch manager Jimmy McFarlane fuming at his players and the match officials.
Referee Whitton spoke to the Urchins boss before play restarted, but his mood was hardly improved as Sembie-Ferris ran 50 yards virtually unchallenged to set up another Colchester effort.
And Urchins need Mott to be alert to save a well-struck left-footed effort by Lapslie, through a crowd of legs, midway through the first half.
Hornchurch had their first shot on target on 23 minutes when Tobi Joseph’s crossfield pass found George Purcell, who tried to catch Dillon Barnes off his line but saw the backpedalling keeper grab his 25-yard attempt.
And Mott was called upon again to parry a fierce-blooded drive from Bonne around his near post just moments later.
Joseph was spoken to by Whitton for a sliding tackle in midfield – the first notable challenge from a Hornchurch player in 28 minutes – before Barnes spilled a Purcell corner and then saw the Urchins striker send a hard-hit shot into the back of team-mate Harry Baker.
But Joseph was then shown a yellow card for a rugged challenge on Wright, which left the Colchester staff somewhat angry, before Thompson appeared to be caught by Frankie Kent as he looked to get free on the right.
Kent picked up an injury in the challenge and needed treatment, while Whitton spoke to Thompson for his protests at not receiving a free kick, and Sembie-Ferris then needed the physio’s attention after Connor Witherspoon and Alex Bentley combined to stop him on the edge of the box.
An increasingly fractious first half ended with Wright flashing a speculative drive just wide of the far post for the home side.
And McFarlane sent Joey May on for Baker at the start of the second half, pushing Joseph out to the left flank, as the visitors tried to save some face, but Sembie-Ferris went close to a fourth for Colchester within two minutes of the restart as his right-wing effort drifted over Mott and beyond the far post.
May hoisted a deep cross to the far post, where Joseph’s header was deflected behind for a corner, and the pair combined again from the set-piece, as the unmarked Joseph headed over from six yards.
Bentley deflected another Sembie-Ferris shot behind at the other end, after Wright had cut in from the left to tee up his team-mate, but the hosts extended their lead on 53 minutes when Curtis stepped into space and threaded in Bonne for a left-foot shot under Mott.
And it was 5-0 before the hour when Wright this time played in Sembie-Ferris, whose cross hit Bonne before Mott’s clearance rebounded off Witherspoon and flew in for an unfortunate own goal.
Colchester full-back Joe Edwards tried to get in on the act with a twinkling run into the box, only to scuff his shot wide. And Wright showed him how it was done on 70 minutes, rifling the ball into the top corner after substitute Kieran Bailey had opened Hornchurch up on their right side.
Urchins kept looking for a consolation, with Thompson getting into a shooting position only to see the chance go to waste as he looked to pick out Poku instead, before Purcell’s low sidefooted shot was saved by Barnes.
But Colchester netted their seventh with a quarter of an hour remaining as Bonne headed past Mott from around 12 yards and Bonne completed his hat-trick five minutes later with a sidefooted effort into the roof of the net from the same sort of distance, after Mott had saved from Wright.
McFarlane sent David Knight on for the hardworking Poku and Hornchurch should have replied when Purcell’s shot was blocked into the path of Thompson in the box, but he dragged the ball across the face of goal and wide of the far post.
There was some concern moments later, though, as Billy Coyne was left out cold following a challenge on halfway, but he was able to walk off following treatment from both physios before Knight created a gilt-edged chance for Purcell, only for him to lift the ball over from close range.
Purcell was left with his head in his hands after such a shocking miss and it summed up Hornchurch’s night perfectly.
McFarlane will now look to get his men up for their next league test against Dereham at Bridge Avenue on Saturday.
Colchester: Barnes, Edwards (Edge 73), Andrews, Lapslie, McKinlay, Kent (Partridge 63), Sembie-Ferris, Regis, Bonne, Curtis (Bailey 67), Wright.
Unused subs: Boness, Lawrence.
Hornchurch: Mott, Witherspoon, Coyne (Smith 85), Bentley, Cooper, Dove, Baker (May 46), Joseph, Poku (Knight 80), Purcell, Thompson.
Unused subs: Collis, Luke.
Referee: R Whitton.
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