John Maggs is thanking his lucky stars Rob Collins thought twice about walking out on Horsham.

The former Crawley striker was Hornets' match winner for the second successive game as they beat in-form Ashford Town (Middlesex) 1-0 at Queen Street last night.

Collins, who was thought to be leaving the club a week ago, expertly guided home a header on four minutes from James Bird's left-wing cross as patched-up Horsham ended the Middlesex side's run of ten points from four games.

It was an unconvincing display from the hosts, whose absentees included frontrunners Gavin Geddes and Gary Charman, both suffering from 'flu, but a victory sent them second in division one south.

Boss Maggs said: "Rob Collins won the game for us on Saturday and he's won this game as well with his goal and his work rate. He's back and I'm delighted.

"We've scraped through. I asked for six points from these two games and we got them, but I'm certainly not happy with the performance."

Visiting goalkeeper Tony Wells made sharp saves from another Collins header and Dave Flemming's angled shot shortly after the goal but from then on the visitors were generally on top.

Anthony Eggington shot wide of an open goal on 23 minutes and former Lewes midfielder Andy Driscoll fired against the crossbar after the break.

Ian Chatfield blocked a fierce Ross Davidson free kick late on but Horsham, with skipper Eddie French again outstanding at the back, held on.

As well as the points, their other bonus from the evening was a busy 68-minute display by Steve Payne on his comeback from illness.