TWO TEENAGERS LEAD HASSOCKS TO TOPPLE SECOND PLACED PAGHAM
Dave John’s young Hassocks side pulled themselves further away from the County League Division One relegation scrap with a fantastic 3-2 win over Pagham.
The Lions arrived at the Beacon sitting second in the table and whilst they might have a squad packed with quality, they could not live with the fight, character and fearlessness of their hosts.
This was the second league win John has masterminded since answering the call to replace John Suter back in October for a second spell in the Hassocks dugout.
And even though his previous time in charge of the Robins was long and successful, rarely can he have overseen such an impressive result delivered against all the odds.
Hassocks trailed 2-1 entering the final 10 minutes of the contest, at which point most would have assumed the three points were heading back to Nyetimber Lane.
Teenagers Adam Williams and Jamie Buckett had other ideas. 17-year-old Williams levelled the tie with a superb free kick, setting the stage for 19-year-old Buckett to complete a dramatic turnaround with his first senior goal.
The Robins took the game to Pagham early on, setting the tone for an encounter which ebbed and flowed from end-to-end.
Richard Thompson collected a Dan Jacques pass, only to see his shot well parried by Lions goalkeeper Rob McClelland.
Buckett was inches away from getting onto the end of a Jamie Hillwood through ball and Spencer Slaughter flashed a speculative 30 yarder wide, all in the first 20 minutes.
At the other end, Dan Cox sent a curling free kick crashing against Jack Simpson’s bar from wide on the right.
Ashley Marsh and Stuart Faith had to be alert to block efforts from Pagham’s prolific forward Rob Wimble and Sol Bowra denied Michael Frangou with a fine last ditch tackle.
Pagham had clearly not been expecting to be taken to task by Hassocks. Frustrations began boiling over early for the Lions with Doug Peach and Dan Martin booked for bad first half fouls.
James Laing should have done better when heading a Jacques cross straight at McClelland before Pagham rattled the woodwork from a free kick for the second time.
Wimble was the player denied by the bar on this occasion with Marsh reacting quickest to clear the danger at the end of a breathless opening 45 minutes.
Jacques and Stuart Faith joined Peach and Martin in referee Graham Kane’s notebook early in the second half; Jacques for stopping a free kick being taken quickly with Faith falling foul of dissent.
All five goals arrived in the final 27 minutes. Hassocks opened the scoring when a Slaughter free kick curled in from the left hand edge of the box bounced off McClelland’s chest. Laing was in the right place at the right time to gleefully head home from all of six yards.
Pagham equalised almost immediately. Cox embarked on a marauding run up the left, advancing 60 yards to play a one-two with Wimble and lash past Simpson from 15 yards.
It was a fine charge and strike from Cox but alarming defending from Hassocks in allowing the Pagham wing back to run so far without encountering a meaningful challenge.
Simpson produced a superb stop low down from Chris Heller, only to gift Pagham the lead on 76 minutes. A Martin shot was adjudged to have taken a touch off a Hassocks defender for a corner.
Cox delivered from the right and Simpson punched the ball into his own goal under minimal pressure.
Simpson’s opposite number McClelland made an error of judgement of his own with 10 minutes remaining, rushing outside his box to challenge Laing who was clean through.
The Pagham goalkeeper caught Laing on the knee with a reckless challenge and after consulting with his assistant, Mr Kane showed McClelland a red card.
With no substitute goalkeeper, right back Heller took over. Heller’s first task was to face the resulting free kick which Slaughter and Williams stood over.
After a bit of a debate between the two, youth team captain Williams had the confidence to push Slaughter aside and assume taking duties.
The decision was richly vindicated when Williams’ pinpoint effort bent perfectly around the wall and nestled right in the bottom corner, giving Heller no chance.
Hassocks’ winner came a couple of minutes later. Williams played a short corner to Jacques, received the ball back and centred into a dangerous area tempting Heller to come and collect.
Heller took the bait, only to be beaten to the ball by Buckett whose glancing header secured a statement win for these young Robins.
Hassocks: Jack Simpson; Dan Jacques, Stuart Faith, Ashley Marsh, Sol Bowra, Richard Thompson; Adam Williams, Spencer Slaughter, Jamie Hillwood; James Laing, Jamie Buckett.
Subs: Ian Dawson (Laing 81), Arni Kublickas, Luke Akehurst, Jason Gander (unused).
Starman: Adam Williams scored one, made the winner and gave an energised performance in midfield.
