THREE GOALS IN 12 MINUTES HELP ON-SONG ROBINS TAME LIONS
The Sussex County League fixture list has not been kind to Hassocks in recent weeks, sending Division One’s two best sides to the Beacon in the space of four days.
And although a return of one point from encounters with Whitehawk and Redhill was better than the Robins might have expected, they knew they had to get back to winning ways against struggling Pagham.
A comfortable 4-1 victory was therefore exactly what the doctor ordered. Stuart Faith, Phil Gault, Anthony Hibbert and Neil Kane were all on target as Hassocks eased to success, continuing their rich vein of form in front of goal.
The Robins scored three times against the Hawks in a 5-3 defeat and twice past Redhill. Those early weeks of the season when goals looked like they would be hard to come by for Hassocks this season seem a long time ago now.
Phil Gault’s return from St Francis Rangers has certainly helped. Gault was involved in three of Hassocks’ four goals in another man-of-the-match display.
He showed his versatility too, starting up front alongside Kane before dropping into midfield for the final half hour when Spencer Slaughter limped off to be replaced by James Laing.
Daley Clark was another to exhibit flexibility as he started in midfield in place of the suspended Terry Gacias. Clark was signed from Lingfield in the summer as a striker but has struggled to score for Hassocks so far.
Based on this showing, Dave John might be inclined to redeploy the hard-working Clark on a permanent basis.
With such entertainment in those previous two games against Whitehawk and Redhill, the first 20 minutes against Pagham were drab in comparison.
Kane fired into the side netting from an acute angle when the better option appeared to be squaring to the unmarked Gault, but other than that it was a quiet start.
Pagham fashioned their first opportunity when the lively Michael Frangou had a shot deflected over. Ian Simpson then denied Brett Forden with an excellent tackle before Hassocks took the lead on 23 minutes.
Simpson showed his worth at the other end in the build up, heading a corner across goal to Kane whose acrobatic hook back from the by-line was nodded in by the unmarked Faith.
A minute later and one became two. Gault timed his run to perfection to spring the offside trap and coolly despatched the chance to double Hassocks’ advantage.
On 35 minutes it was 3-0. Hibbert marked his return after missing the midweek game against Redhill with a superb volley on the run.
Dan Jacques supplied the cross after scampering down the right to latch onto a visionary ball down the channel from Gault.
Three goals in 12 minutes should have meant it was game over. The Robins switched off though and straight from the restart, Pagham pulled one back as Forden was allowed to stroll through a number of weak challenges and slot past Joel Harding.
Still the first half action was not done. Gault volleyed straight at Wes Hallett in the Pagham goal and Slaughter shot wastefully wide when he was well placed.
The Lions started the second half well and Frangou forced Harding into a fine save low down to his left just after the restart.
Hassocks weathered the mini-storm, however, and added a fourth on the hour mark. Kane volleyed home brilliantly for his eighth of the season despite having his back to goal after being set up by Faith from Gault’s knockdown.
But it was not all good news for the Robins. As well as losing Slaughter to injury two minutes after Kane struck, the scorer himself followed Slaughter into the treatment room just four minutes later. That meant Logan Newington coming on for his first senior appearance since 2007.
The game petered out after that although there were two good chances in injury time. James Misselbrook forced Harding into tipping over at full stretch and Gault then contrived to miss from eight yards with the goal at his mercy following Laing’s perfect cross.
Hassocks: Joel Harding; Dan Jacques, Ian Simpson, Ashley Marsh, Stuart Faith, Arni Kublickas; Daley Clark, Spencer Slaughter, Anthony Hibbert; Phil Gault, Neil Kane.
Subs: James Laing (Slaughter 61), Logan Newington (Kane 65), Sol Bowra (Faith 72), Michael Bates (unused).
Starman: Solid defensive display from Hassocks but Phil Gault stood out.
