Billy Dunn leaves Horsham Football Club

The in-form attacking midfielder/forward becomes the second player to leave the club in the last few days after goalkeeper Michael Hunter also played his final game in the 3-1 defeat at Chipstead on Saturday.

While Hunter’s replacement has already been found in Kieron Thorp, it will be far tougher to replace their outstanding player of the current season.

Dunn has scored ten goals for the Hornets this term, following up a fine hat-trick against Guernsey with the winner against Crawley Down and his general play operating from the left of attack has seen him snapped up by Ryman Premier League strugglers Carshalton, who are desperate for goals to lift them out of the relegation places.

“I’ve not had the best couple of days,” Charman told the official Horsham FC website, Hornets Review. “Billy has been the most influential player for us over the last six or seven games so it’s a massive blow to lose someone of his ability.

“On Wednesday night (versus Worthing) we were even planning to build the side around him, giving him a free role because he’s a match winner. It’s disappointing for Rob (Frankland) and me because we’ve both worked hard to restore his confidence and self-belief, and we were reaping the benefits of it, so to have another club come in and just take him like that is a bit of a kick in the teeth.

“But that’s football and, at the end of the day, he’s moving up a division and financially we can’t give him anything near what Carshalton are offering him so you can’t blame him for making his decision.”

The club’s press office twitter account also revealed yesterday that defender Jahmahl King turned down an offer to leave Horsham, but did not reveal which club had made the approach.