RANGERS MAKE HISTORY WITH MAIDEN MID SUSSEX DERBY VICTORY
At the fifth time of asking, St Francis Rangers notched their first Mid Sussex Derby victory over Hassocks. It was a thoroughly deserved success too as Roy Staughton’s boys 2-1 victory made it three wins in succession and four games unbeaten to round off an excellent 2009.
Rangers always looked more menacing than their hosts, who were clearly missing the combative spirit of the injured Stuart Faith. Hassocks were also without manager Dave John who found himself reluctantly confined to the barracks with flu.
Whether Johnsy could have stirred the troops sufficiently will never be known. There was no doubting though that the Robins were lacking their normal fighting spirit while their makeshift defence never looked comfortable.
Faith’s injury and Ian Simpson’s absence meant that Hassocks opted to use James Laing as an emergency defender. They had other options available, including young Nick Pitcher who sat on the bench for 78 minutes.
As the game wore on, moving Laing back to his regular forward berth seemed like an increasingly obvious change to make. Laing’s hold up play would have enabled Neil Kane to utilise his pace and Phil Gault his guile, but by the time Hassocks did finally deploy Laing as a striker, it was too little, too late.
Rangers made the best possible start by scoring with their first attack after only four minutes. Geoff Pitcher’s goal bound effort came back off a Hassocks defender with James Westlake picking up the pieces to beat Joel Harding.
Westlake’s joy was tempered a couple of minutes later when he booked up an unfortunate booking for diving. It initially looked like young referee Kevin Roberts had ruled in Westlake’s favour, only to change his mind following the passionate response of the Hassocks players who were incensed by what they felt was simulation.
That would be out of character for Westlake though. What probably should have happened is no free kick and no booking. Westlake was joined in the book by Hassocks’ Dan Jacques, Spencer Slaughter and Terry Gacias and Rangers’ Glenn Charker as Mr Roberts’ ended the game with a long Christmas list.
Following that action packed start, the game settled down to resemble the sort of fare that is normally served up in holiday derby games. Both teams know each other a little too well and are inhibited by the fear of losing, leading to cagey affairs low on quality.
To be fair to both sides, they did try to play football but were often guilty of holding onto the ball for longer than necessary. Combine that with poor distribution and you had an encounter that will hardly go down as a classic.
Although it was Rangers who looked the more likely to add to their lead, it took the fingertips of Simon Lehkyj to deny Phil Gault who had latched onto a route one ball. Gault then had a chance to cross to Neil Kane who would have had a clear chance had he not slipped at the vital moment of delivery.
Sam Palmer finished poorly although an offside flag was already raised against the Rangers striker who managed to pull a fine save out of Harding just before the break.
Into the second half and Palmer had a header pushed over by Harding. An Elliott Butler corner gave Matt Carruthers a similar opportunity which Harding was equal to again, this time with a little help from the crossbar.
Lehkyj required lengthy treatment for a back injury and looked to be still suffering the effects when he was beaten by Laing’s speculative lob which hit the bar on 74 minutes. Laing was by now belatedly leading the line but three minutes later, Rangers effectively won it when Jake Forward cut in from the right to get the better of Sol Bowra and take his chance clinically.
Gault pulled one back against his former club six minutes later when converting a set piece at the far post to set up what should have been a tense final five. Hassocks barely threatened though after Gault’s goal and Rangers had a treasured first success over their local rivals, moving level on points in the Division One table in the process.
Hassocks: Joel Harding; Dan Jacques, Sol Bowra, Ashley Marsh, James Laing, Arni Kublickas; Anthony Hibbert, Spencer Slaughter, Terry Gacias; Phil Gault, Neil Kane.
Subs: Martin Woods (Kublickas 61), Daley Clark (Kane 74), Nick Pitcher (Bowra 78).
Starman: Phil Gault.
