YOUNG ROBINS SPRING A REAL SURPRISE
Hassocks boss Dave John is not the most excitable of characters but even he abandoned his usual position in the stands and was over the fence and on to the pitch to congratulate his players after the final whistle of the Robins’ superb 3-2 victory away at East Preston.
“What a result!” he yelled as the referee blew to end the last remaining 100% record in County League Division One with what was one of the most remarkable results Hassocks have produced in quite some time.
They arrived at the Lashmar missing the services of five first choice players in skipper Chris Hewitt, Mickey Turner, Chris Brown, Matt Robbins and Will Wright and were also without the suspended Mark Sheriff.
That meant John was forced to throw together a young and inexperienced team that relied heavily on players from the reserves and youth sides to take on a side that had won five games out of five and were yet to concede in the league under new boss Chris White.
White assumed control at EP in the summer and he has drawn on his days as number two at Burgess Hill Town to put together a team who on paper look like they could be serious contenders for the league title.
There were seven ex-Hillians in the starting line-up and it could have been more had White’s player-assistant manager Sean Edwards not been involved in a car accident en route. Fortunately he was unhurt.
But it is Hassocks and their young upstarts who deserve the attention. John handed full debuts to Alex Ternouth at sweeper, Martin Woods at right back and Matt Amos in attack.
Sam Fisk was given a rare start in midfield and Graham Beveridge, unavailable on Saturdays for the time being, answered an SOS call to help out.
The young side not only worked hard but played surprisingly well, with plenty of excellent running off the ball that stretched a home back line that included Jay Head and Dez Guile.
It was harsh on the Robins when they fell behind on the half hour. Josh Biggs did well to get behind the defence and his pull back finally fell for Phil Churchill to apply the finish.
Despite hitting three at Worthing United on Friday night, goals are still likely to be in short supply for Hassocks following Pat Harding’s departure to Eastbourne Borough and it was going to be a good test of character to see how they responded.
The answer to that was not long in coming, for just on half time the highly promising Amos produced some good work on the left and when Fisk’s shot was half blocked, Richard Thomas nipped in to round keeper Tom Rand and put his side level.
It was Thomas’s first goal of the season and one he badly needed to boost confidence despite some good touches and a work rate that continues to impress massively.
EP made the brighter start to the second half but slowly the visitors began to find their feet again as Anthony Hibbert, one of the elder statesman of the team at the grand age of 22, took full responsibility in midfield.
On 64 minutes his free kick found Thomas at the far post but the downward header went wide. A minute later Amos did brilliantly to set up Hibbert who should really have done better than leave the crossbar rattling.
EP looked surprised at the pressure they were under at this point and didn’t seem to have an answer to it. On 67 minutes, Fisk did superbly on the left and when the home defence inexplicably failed to deal with his pull-back, Thomas was left with a simple tap-in.
Inevitably, EP were going to pile forward after that but they offered nothing that Joel Harding and his defence couldn’t handle until the 79th minute when Roy Pook’s long throw was not effectively cleared and when Churchill returned it into the box, sub Peter Christodoulou headed home an equaliser.
Hassocks’ response to that was both instant and impressive as they went straight up the other end from kick off and won a penalty as home skipper Leo Day was adjudged to have brought down Fisk.
It needed a cool head to take on the role of penalty taker and Hibbert provided just that with an excellent conversion for what proved to be the winner.
Hassocks: Joel Harding; Martin Woods, Pete Lear, Alex Ternouth, Ashley Marsh, Richard Thompson; Graham Beveridge, Anthony Hibbert, Sam Fisk; Richard Thomas, Matt Amos.
Subs: Ian Simpson, Mark Darbyshire, Steve Hudson, Ross Thornton, Jack Simpson (unused).
Starman: Plenty of candidates but Anthony Hibbert fully deserves it for taking full responsibility and underlining his emerging talent.
