SECOND HALF COMEBACK EARNS ROBINS A POINT IN THE RINGMER RAIN
For much of the second half of Hassocks’ Friday night visit to Ringmer, it didn’t look like the game would be played out to a conclusion.
An already boggy surface at the Caburn was turned into a mud bath by the end as relentless rain hammered down throughout the 90 minutes. The pitch survived – just – and Hassocks will be thankful that it did as they recovered from 2-0 down to come away with an excellent point.
Conditions were testing throughout and Dave John also had a selection headache to contend with. Skipper Ashley Marsh was only fit enough for a spot on the bench while Stuart Faith, Anthony Hibbert and Neil Kane missed out completely.
With two defenders out, John had to ask Spencer Slaughter to fulfil an unfamiliar role at sweeper. Young Nick Pitcher came in for his first start of the season in midfield with Laurence Robinson making a most welcome return from the substitutes bench in the closing stages in place of James Laing.
Robinson was one of the stars of Hassocks’ escape from relegation in the second half of last season, playing through severe pain every week caused by a knee injury.
His dedication helped keep the Robins up, but it came at a personal cost as the rangy striker hadn’t made a single first team appearance in the current campaign before the trip to the Caburn.
If Hassocks can get him fit – and keep him that way – then Robinson will add another dimension to their attack for the second half of the season.
The visitors were indebted to Joel Harding for ensuring that they only went into the break 2-0 behind. Harding denied Jo Jo Tuborn twice, Jason Sowter once and Joe Dryer with his finest save of the half, leaping full stretch to the top right hand corner of the goal to claw an effort out.
It was Elliott Finney who gave Ringmer the lead and it had a touch of Ronaldinho against England in 2002 World Cup about it. Finney had initially looked like he was attempting to deliver a cross, only for the wind to get hold of the ball and carry it over the head of the deceived Harding to drop in via the back post.
Ringmer’s second came via a much more conventional route. Darren Lok, Mark Price and Ryan Macmillan linked well in an excellent passage of play which defied the bog that the pitch was by now turning into. That created an opportunity for Dryer to gallop through the Hassocks defence before unleashing a powerful effort that flew past the sprawling Harding and into the far corner.
Hassocks needed to up their game in the second half and they returned to the pitch clearly determined to do so. Within minutes of the restart they pulled one back, the wind playing its part again by holding up a cross into the box.
That seemed to confuse home goalkeeper Gary Trott and his resulting punch was a poor one, allowing Gault to bundle the ball into the back of the net for his seventh of the campaign.
A testing evening for Trott got worse as he was also culpable for Hassocks’ second which arrived with around 65 minutes on the clock. Terry Gacias’ cross was flicked on by Sol Bowra to Gault, whose header looked to have been well held by Trott diving to his right.
The slippery ball came loose however and it was the evergreen Laing who reacted quickest to poke home. Had Trott pushed the initial header away rather than trying to hold it, the chance would never have fallen to Laing. Who would be a goalkeeper?
Both sides had chances to win it late on. Harding had to save well with his feet when Lok got through one-on-one and Trott redeemed himself somewhat for those earlier errors with two fine stops from Gacias and Daley Clark.
There was one final opportunity in the dying moments which half the ground thought had flown in. Gault struck a sweet long ranger which picked up an increasing amount of pace as it zipped off the wet surface. The net rippled but much to the relief of the home support, the ball had skidded just the wrong side of the post, leaving the spoils to be shared.
Hassocks: Joel Harding; Dan Jacques, Ian Simpson, Spencer Slaughter, Sol Bowra, Arni Kublickas; Terry Gacias, Nick Pitcher, Daley Clark; Phil Gault, James Laing.
Subs: Laurence Robinson (Laing), Logan Newington (Pitcher), Ashley Marsh (unused).
Starman: Joel Harding kept Hassocks in the game in the first half in particular.
