JEWELL’S HALF TIME ROCKET FIRES HASSOCKS INTO ROUND TWO
Mickey Jewell read his Hassocks players the riot act at half time of their Sussex Senior Cup First Round replay with Steyning Town and the Robins duly responded to book an intriguing home tie with Ryman South high-flyers Whitehawk in the next round.
Despite struggling near the bottom of County League Division Two, Steyning had caused Hassocks real problems over the course of 120 minutes at the Shooting Field 18 days previously.
On that occasion, it took a 112th minute equaliser from Kieran O’Callaghan to earn this replay and spare Hassocks’ blushes and for the first 45 minutes here at the Beacon, Steyning gave Hassocks plenty to think about again.
They hit the bar inside of the opening five minutes after some exquisite skills from Lewis Levoi, a player who also possessed a long throw which caused numerous problems for Hassocks before the break.
Levoi rattling the crossbar was a warning sign for the Robins and to be fair, it did spark them into life as they swept straight up the other end to earn an eighth minute penalty for handball which Phil Gault duly converted.
The lead didn’t last long. Jack Simpson had been a doubt with flu in the 48 hours before the game and he played despite clearly being unwell, which perhaps affected his judgement as he missed his first attempt at gathering a cross before weakly punching the ball only as far as the edge of the area.
Lurking there was Steyning’s Sean Pickup, who seized the opportunity superbly by sending a crisp volley into the back of the net for 1-1.
Although Hassocks were never that fluid over the remaining 30 minutes of the first half, they did manage to create four or five good opportunities, the majority of which fell to Dan Smith.
Unfortunately for Hassocks and their young striker, Smith seemed to have left his shooting boots at home and a frustrating half of football subsequently came to a close with the scores level.
Jewell’s rocket followed and the Hassocks boss would have been pleased with the reaction as his side retook the lead just seven minutes after the restart, Smith belatedly making a chance count for his third of the campaign.
After nearly three hours of football between these two, all of a sudden the gap in quality between a side with top five ambitions in Division One and one scrapping to survive in Division Two became apparent.
There was no way back for Steyning once substitute Dan Barnard had added a third just a couple of minutes after coming on in place of Nathan Miles.
That made it two goals in two games for Barnard since his move from Uckfield Town, marking him out as a shrewd acquisition given the long term injuries which Sam Jeremiah and Neil Kane are suffering from.
It was another new striker who added the fourth in injury time, Dan Shergold scoring his first goal in Hassocks colours with a bullet header.
The Robins weren’t done there though and with Steyning completely spent, they found the time to add a fifth through a beautiful finish from the deserving Lee Waterhouse, also opening his account for Hassocks – and against one of his former clubs too.
Waterhouse wasn’t the only player with Steyning connections, Jewell’s assistant manager Mark Dalgleish having been recruited from the Shooting Field in the summer and brining with him a whole host of players, although Andy Whittingham was the only one to feature alongside Waterhouse on this occasion.
Hassocks: Jack Simpson; Rob South, Ashley Marsh, Kieran O’Callaghan, Andy Whittingham; Lee Waterhouse, Spencer Slaughter, Phil Gault, Nathan Miles, Elliott Butler; Dan Smith.
Subs: Dan Barnard (Miles 62), Anthony Hibbert (Slaughter 67), Dan Shergold (Smith 79).
Starman: Kieran O’Callaghan, steadying influence at the back.
