AMOS ENDS GOAL FAMINE WITH A BANQUET TO DUMP DOWN OUT OF CUP
He’s back. After struggling to get off the mark this season, gifted young Hassocks striker Matt Amos ended his goal famine with a banquet as his hat-trick saw off Crawley Down in the second round of the RUR Charity Cup.
The 18-year-old scored 25 goals last season on his way to helping Dave John’s Robins to their highest ever Sussex County League finish, making light of the departure of Hassocks’ previous talismanic forward Pat Harding to Eastbourne Borough.
Amos was particularly keen to break his duck for the current campaign before he heads to Cambridge University later this month – and it is normally the case with players that good that once they notch one, the goals start flowing again.
Unfortunately for Down, three of them ending up flowing in the opening 46 minutes as Hassocks eased past their Division Two hosts with a 4-0 success.
Amos struck in the opening 60 seconds of each half and with another effort in between, he was able to celebrate a treble before taking a well earned rest.
No doubt Down will be unhappy with some of the goals conceded but even with a couple of defensive mistakes, this was never anything less than a cakewalk for the Robins bar a couple of hairy moments early in the second half.
Despite looking so comfortable, John still had a few choice words to say at half time after watching his team take a 2-0 lead inside of 12 minutes and then fail to take advantage of their obvious superiority.
Virtually straight from kick off, Down sent a long ball forward which was easily gathered by Joel Harding. The Hassocks number one returned the favour, launching a huge kick back down the pitch which the home defence failed to deal with effectively.
That let Amos in one-on-one with home goalkeeper Eddie Olding, Amos opting to go for power rather than placement when despatching his opening goal of the season via the underside of the bar.
Amos did not have long to wait for number two. His next goal arrived shorty after when he ghosted unnoticed towards the front post to convert an excellent Phil Gault cross, putting Hassocks in complete control with a two goal lead before the quarter of an hour mark.
Rather than killing things off in double-quick time, the Robins then took their foot off the pedal and the remainder of the first half became slack.
Part of the problem seemed to be that Hassocks had too much time on the ball. That led to an extra touch here and an unnecessary pass there as the sloppiness that frustrated John began to set in.
Down fashioned some openings of their own with right back Adam New and forward James Upton in particular impressing, giving home fans hope that they could find a way back into it in the second half.
But those hopes were extinguished less than a minute after the restart. New’s poor back pass sold Olding short and although the Down goalkeeper did well to recover the situation, his attempted clearance went awry as it cannoned into Amos to leave a simple tap in.
Going 3-0 behind seemed to stir Down into life and were it not for Harding, then the Anvils might well have launched something of a comeback in what was their best period of the match.
Gareth Neathey pulled two outstanding saves from Harding before a fourth goal on 62 minutes for Hassocks finally ended the home resistance.
Good work down the right from Gault and the evergreen Mickey Turner led Kieran Fielding to handle in the box. Anthony Hibbert stepped up to strike the penalty past Olding, scoring his fourth of the season in the process.
John turned to his bench after that. Brendan Leahy has been nursing an ankle injury in recent weeks and he was immediately replaced by Stuart Faith who remains unavailable at weekends currently due to cricket commitments.
Amos and Robbins then made way for youngsters Logan Newington and Michael Bates, both of whom had starred alongside Amos in the Under 18s side who won the North Division two years ago and finished runners up last season.
Newington had a great chance to open his senior account when played in by Gault but he pulled a decent shot just wide of the far post.
Bates meanwhile brought energy to the midfield, displayed a few clever touches and used the ball well having clearly listened to John’s half time instructions to make things more simple.
The game finished on an unsavoury note with late bookings for Ashley Marsh and the feisty Neathey following an isolated incident that was not really in keeping with what had taken place over the preceding 85 minutes.
Hassocks: Joel Harding; Mickey Turner, Pete Lear, Ashley Marsh, Brendan Leahy, Richard Thompson; Matt Robbins, Spencer Slaughter, Anthony Hibbert; Phil Gault, Matt Amos.
Subs: Stuart Faith (Leahy 62), Logan Newington (Amos 74), Michael Bates (Robbins 75).
Starman: It has to go to Matt Amos for getting his season up and running in such spectacular style.
