LAING LEVELS LATE TO EARN HASSOCKS A PRECIOUS POINT
James Laing was the Hassocks hero as the Robins’ record goal scorer came off the bench to net a 92nd minute equaliser against a slick and compact Lingfield.
The visitors will have felt aggrieved not to have left the Beacon with all three points, but nobody could argue with the crisp quality of Laing’s late strike with his right foot.
Even more impressive was that it arrived when Hassocks had just 10 men on the pitch following Stuart Faith leaving the action with a bad foot injury after Dave John had used all three of his subs.
An innocuous clash of boots somehow resulted in a Lingfield player’s stud piercing the top of Faith’s foot, leaving him with a huge gash and a boot full of blood. Faith spent the evening in A&E, where he was stitched up and John expects to be without the stalwart defender for several weeks.
Hassocks struggled to find much rhythm following a fortnight off. Lingfield arrived with problems of their own, having lost manager Tony Beckingham earlier in the week.
Beckingham had completely rebuilt the Lingers squad following his appoint in the summer but none of his signings seemed overly effected by his departure as they controlled much of the match once they had survived an opening bombardment from the hosts.
Hassocks thought they had taken the lead as early as the fourth minute when Neil Kane finished a Phil Gault free kick. A controversial linesman’s flag ruled it out despite Kane appearing to be well onside when Gault delivered into the box.
Lingfield’s centre halves Gareth Broom and James Holland were booked early on for cynical pull backs on Kane and Gault. That left the visitors’ defensive duo skating on thin ice, but Hassocks were unable to put them under the unnecessary pressure to try and force a mistake that might have led Lingfield to play shorthanded.
Another Gault set piece nearly gave Hassocks the lead, this time Hassocks’ talisman opting to shoot with Adam Woodward having to make a superb tip over from the curling effort.
The Lingers began to assert themselves after that. The dangerous Joel Hughes scoffed a shot wide and the superb Ian Simpson denied Andrew Dalhouse with two excellently timed tackles. Sam Wallace was then denied by Joel Harding low down to his left.
Lingfield took the lead on the half hour mark when Hughes outpaced and outmuscled Dan Jacques before centering to Terry Gibson, who added the finish from 12 yards. Harding pulled off another fine save from Ricky Spain before Spencer Slaughter had the final chance of the half, bending just wide after a marauding run from midfield.
Faith joined Broom and Holland in the book early in the second half when he had little choice but to upend Hughes as another moment of magic looked like it might send the Lingfield forward clear.
Simpson then proved his worth at the other end, heading back across goal for Kane who hooked his effort over the bar. Gault struck another sweet free kick which had just a little too much lift to challenge Woodward.
Spain headed wide and Simpson produced another crucial block when denying Wallace. Simpson was by now the obvious choice for Hassocks man-of-the-match, and there were still 25 minutes left to play.
Hassocks were still struggling to make much of an impression in an attacking sense and so John shuffled his pack on 69, making a rare double change. Midfielders Daley Clark and Terry Gacias departed for defender Sol Bowra and forward Laing, with Faith pushing forward from the backline into midfield and Gault dropping back from attack.
When that didn’t have the desired effect, John sacrificed Slaughter for another attacker in Logan Newington. Hassocks were going for it, but it looked like John’s boldness would be in vein, especially when Faith was leaving the Beacon bound for hospital to leave the Robins to finish with 10.
That was until the game rolled into the 92nd minute and Laing struck. The veteran striker had squandered an opportunity minutes earlier when shooting wide but he made no mistake with the final chance of the game.
Another fine Gault free kick delivery was headed down by Bowra with Laing firing home from 15 yards to send the Beacon wild.
Hassocks: Joel Harding; Dan Jacques, Ian Simpson, Ashley Marsh, Stuart Faith, Arni Kublickas; Terry Gacias, Spencer Slaughter, Daley Clark; Phil Gault, Neil Kane.
Subs: Sol Bowra (Gacias 69), James Laing (Clark 69), Logan Newington (Slaughter 78).
Starman: Ian Simpson didn’t miss a tackle or header all game.
