KING CARNEY STARS AS HASSOCKS ARE BATTERED BY BRIDGES
Spare a thought for Hassocks manager Dave John. Not only has he been missed his side’s last two matches having been laid low with flu over the entire Christmas and New Year period, but news of this latest depressing defeat is unlikely to speed his recovery.
For the Robins were left feeling nearly as sick as their boss as they opened 2010 with a chastening 6-0 defeat against Three Bridges. Virtually everything that could go wrong for Hassocks did go wrong on a bitterly cold afternoon at Jubilee Field in front of the one of the Sussex County League’s biggest attendances of the season of 268.
The Robins found themselves 4-0 down inside 33 minutes as injuries wrecked what appeared to have been a calculated game plan for dealing with Bridges’ new star signing from Horsham, Lee Carney. Carney was a class apart from anyone else on the pitch, claiming a hat-trick as nobody in the red of Hassocks could get close to him.
It was only the efforts of Joel Harding which prevented the scoreline becoming more embarrassing, particularly in the first half. Had Hassocks’ goalkeeper not been in such inspired form, it is quite conceivable that Bridges could have hit double figures in the opening 45 minutes alone as they looked capable of scoring every time they attacked.
Hassocks did at least show some resilience in the second half as Bridges only added two more to the score, both from Carney. There was even a flash of decent football from the visitors, a throwback to the start of the season when the Robins were full of confidence and looked capable of making an impression at the right end of the Division One table.
Those heady days seem a lifetime ago now. Such was the threat posed by Carney that Hassocks abandoned their normal 3-5-2 in favour of a switch to 4-5-1 with Spencer Slaughter asked to man mark the Bridges dangerman.
The Robins defence did not look particularly comfortable with the change, none more so than skipper Ashley Marsh who found himself switched from his normal central berth to left back. Hassocks’ cause was not helped when Pete Lear took a horrible whack to the head within the opening two minutes on what was only his second start of the campaign.
Lear somehow lasted 26 minutes before departing the action in a dazed state with Hassocks having just gone 2-0 down. Bridges took the lead with seven minutes played when a long throw was flicked on to leave Elliott Romain a simple chance at the far post.
Phil Gault fashioned a rare chance at the other end but when Hassocks failed to take it, Bridges broke, the Robins defence parted like the red sea and Carney was clinical to double the hosts’ advantage.
James Laing replaced Lear but he entered the action up front, necessitating a mass game of musical chairs as Neil Kane moved out wide, Anthony Hibbert came into the central midfield and Slaughter dropped into the back four. The man marking of Carney was now an afterthought.
Those changes left Hassock in disarray and within seven minutes, Bridges had scored twice more. The Robins could certainly feel aggrieved about the first of those as a clear foul on Marsh went unpunished and when the captain’s scuffed clearance was returned into the box, big George Hillier looked suspiciously offside as he scored from close range.
There was an air of inevitability about the fourth which arrived five minutes later as Hillier met a set piece with a glancing header that crept inside Harding’s right-hand post. Just before half time and only the post denied Hillier a quick-fire treble before Mark Fox made a smart save from Hibbert.
Hassocks managed to salvage a little pride in the second half having been far too much of a soft touch in the first. Had it not been for a couple of decent stops from Fox, they might have claimed a consolation either side of Carney’s second, a marvellous individual effort following a poor clearance from Harding.
The Hassocks goalkeeper spared his side any further blushes with a series of excellent saves and deserved to avoid what would have been an unfortunate dismissal when he pulled down sub Jack McNab just as the game entered stoppage time.
Referee John Pike consulted a linesman before deciding a yellow card was sufficient punishment with Carney converting the resulting spot kick to complete his hat-trick.
Not the start to the new year Hassocks or Johnsy would have wanted and they will need to get back on track quickly if they are not to be sucked down into murky relegation waters – although at least they know they won’t face a player of Carney’s quality again this season.
Hassocks: Joel Harding; Dan Jacques, Pete Lear, Sol Bowra, Ashley Marsh; Spencer Slaughter, Terry Gacias, Anthony Hibbert, Phil Gault; Daley Clark, Neil Kane.
Subs: James Laing (Lear 26), Arni Kublickas (Clark 70), Nathan Miles (Kane 70).
Starman: Not awarded.
