BRISTOW THE LION TAMER GIVES HASSOCKS FIRST WIN IN FOUR
Simon Bristow opened his Hassocks account as the Robins tamed the Lions of Pagham to deliver a first win in four.
Dave John rarely signs players midway through the season, a notable exception being Phil Gault’s arrival from St Francis Rangers in January of last year.
But having seen his side fail to score in six of their last seven outings, the Hassocks boss made his move to bring Bristow to the Beacon from Haywards Heath Town and already it looks like a shrewd acquisition.
The 21-year-old striker was a real menace all afternoon against Pagham with his non-stop running and pace never giving the visiting defence a moments peace.
He scored Hassocks’ equaliser just before the half hour mark to cancel out Ashley Hunter’s stunning opener for the Lions and then won the second half penalty which Spencer Slaughter converted for what proved to be the winner.
And John said afterwards that he believes there will be more to come from Bristow once he gets up to speed with senior football, this being only his third game at this level since arriving from Hanbury Park. If that’s the case, then Hassocks could have quite a player on their hands.
John sprung something of a surprise, not with his team selection but in the way they lined up with Slaughter, Richard Thompson and Matt Robbins all being played out of their natural positions.
Slaughter dropped into sweeper from his favoured midfield berth, Thompson moved across from wing back to play as one of the three centre halves and Robbins took over from Thompson at left wing back for the first time in his career.
There was also a rare run out for Graham Beveridge, the veteran midfielder answering John’s call to make his first start of the season and add some much-needed experience to a starting line up in which Mickey Turner was the only other player over the age of 25.
Hassocks started brightly but thoughts of that barren run in front of goal were never far from the home faithful’s minds as both Bristow and his strike partner Laurence Robinson missed easy chances inside of the opening 15 minutes.
That wastefulness was punished by Hunter who hit a sublime effort from way out on the left that gave Joel Harding no chance after good work by Michael Frangou.
Turner went close to levelling the scores twice in quick succession before Bristow equalised. Robinson was the architect, playing a perfect through pass but Bristow still had plenty to do as he showed commendable strength and pace to evade the challenge of Sean Dobbs and coolly slot past the advancing figure of Wes Hallett in the Pagham goal.
Beveridge then proved his worth when hooking Rob Wimble’s goal bound effort off the line with half time approaching.
Both sides set their stalls out to attack early in the second half, Pagham hitting a post and Hassocks’ teenage midfielder Jamie Ingham embarking on a mazy run which came incredibly close – which was more than could be said about a Beveridge free kick which wouldn’t have looked out of place in the evening’s Six Nations game between France and England at Stade de France.
Hobbs had been given a torrid time of it by Bristow which reached its nadir when the Pagham defender hauled down Bristow down in the box, giving Slaughter the opportunity to blast home his fourth of the season from the spot.
Lions’ boss Gary Block responded with a desperate treble substitution to try and get back in the game, but it was actually Hassocks who ended the strongest.
They could have added a third through both Robinson and Ingham who were only denied by some excellent goalkeeping from Hallett, although the Robins did survive a scare right at the death when Wimble went down in the area but play was waved on.
In the end, this was a good victory for Hassocks on an afternoon that was preceded with an impeccably observed minutes silence for Ringmer’s Herve King, who tragically collapsed and died while playing against Three Bridges last week.
Hassocks: Joel Harding; Mickey Turner, Pete Lear, Spencer Slaughter, Graham Beveridge, Richard Thompson; Matt Robbins, Chris Brown, Jamie Ingham; Laurence Robinson, Simon Bristow.
Subs: Ian Dawson, Logan Newington, Adam Williams (unused).
