SLAUGHTER SENDING OFF COSTS HASSOCKS DEAR
There were no complaints from Hassocks manager Dave John after Spencer Slaughter’s dismissal cost his side dearly against new-look Arundel.
Combative midfielder Slaughter saw red on the hour mark with Hassocks leading 2-0 thanks to Anthony Hibbert and Neil Kane’s first half strikes. Two Mullets goals in a five minute spell with Hassocks playing shorthanded ensured that Arundel left the Beacon with a share of the spoils.
It was a frustrating result for the hosts, particularly as they had been completely dominant in the first half. John touched on that afterwards, saying that while it would be easy to blame Slaughter’s sending off for Hassocks’ failure to pick up all three points, they should have killed off the game long before the Robins’ vice captain was heading for an early bath.
John made two enforced changes from the side who had beaten Hailsham Town 3-1 four days previously. Goal scorer Kane was one of those, taking the place of the unavailable Matt Amos.
Stuart Faith was the other, his cricketing commitment still ruling him out from weekend football for the time being. Ian Simpson replaced Faith in the back three, although Simpson’s afternoon was over when he was withdrawn injured after 36 minutes.
That saw Dan Jacques introduced for his first action of note of the campaign. Not even the disruption to their defence could throw Hassocks off their stride as Arundel had to play second fiddle for the entire first half.
The Robins’ victory at the Beaconsfield on Tuesday night came thanks to a superb display of passing football. They picked up where they had left with Hibbert in particular giving a strong showing in the middle of the park.
He rattled the bar with a rasping free kick before opening the scoring from the penalty spot. Kane added a well taken effort shortly after to put Hassocks firmly in command.
Both players were netting for the second game running, which would have been especially pleasing for John. Hassocks struggled in the goal scoring department in the second half of last season and it didn’t appear to be an area that had been sufficiently strengthened over the summer, so to have two players in relatively good form in front of goal should ease some of the concerns about the lack of firepower in the Robins ranks.
The turning point arrived 10 minutes into the second half when Slaughter was shown his second yellow card. John responded by replacing Clark with James Laing, the hope being that Laing’s hold up play would allow the Robins to look after and keep the ball in the final third.
Hassocks though had already put in a real shift by the hour mark. In hot conditions, it came as little surprise that playing out the final 30 minutes a man short ended up taking its tool as Arundel came storming back.
The Mullets’ goals came midway through the second half. Dan Towers scored the first with Josh Biggs heading in the equaliser to change the complexion of the game.
From that point on, the Robins had to forego their new-found passing football in favour of the more traditional Hassocks qualities of battle and work rate.
Arni Kublickas led by example in that regard, the right wing back performing like someone has been playing at this level of football all his life rather than a 19-year-old with less than 10 senior appearances under his belt who only broke into the first team at the backend of the last campaign.
By full time, the draw looked a good result for Hassocks. While it would be easy to question what might have been had they kept 11 on the pitch, a point from the previous season’s runners up is a sign that the Robins are moving in the right direction.
Hassocks: Joel Harding; Arni Kublickas, Sol Bowra, Ashley Marsh, Ian Simpson, Richard Thompson; Anthony Hibbert, Terry Gacias, Spencer Slaughter; Daley Clark, Neil Kane.
Subs: Dan Jacques (Simpson 36), James Laing (Clark 61), Tom Barnes (unused).
Starman: Arni Kublickas, another steady performance from the young defender.
