CURATE’S EGG IN THE CUP AS HASSOCKS MARCH THROUGH
It was a bit like the curate’s egg at Gorings Mead. Horsham YMCA were undeniably the better side, Hassocks were well below par and yet it was the Robins who march onto the preliminary qualifying round of the FA Cup, pocketing a cool £1,500 along the way.
Hassocks will fancy their chances of making further progress and money with Dorking Wanderers to come next. Mickey Jewell’s side took four points from Wanderers in Division One last season and although the Surrey based team have strengthened, the Robins on their day should still have enough to swat them aside.
YM meanwhile will probably be wondering how they didn’t win this one for some weeks to come. This was a game that ebbed and flowed with most of the flowing going towards the visitors’ goal but such is football and this magical competition in particular that you can never really tell what will happen next. That was certainly the case here.
The opening exchanges were all YM as the hosts played some delightful passing football, looking particularly dangerous whenever they entered Hassocks’ defensive third.
In Brad Curtis, Martin Smith and Dave Brown they had a potent mix of speed, finesse and talent. Not that they needed any of that to take the lead, Hassocks defending an in-swinging Dan Sullivan corner woefully to allow YM skipper Ashley Dugdale to put them ahead.
That fourth minute set piece was the result of an excellent save from young Alex Harris who was deputising for the holidaying Jack Simpson for the second game in succession.
Harris is on-loan from Woking with the intention of gaining experience in the senior game and it certainly looks like an arrangement that is going to benefit both parties, especially with Simpson set to depart for a year of travelling in November.
Home centre half Kevin Burgess almost scored from another Sullivan corner delivery on eight minutes and one sensed the hosts needed to capitalise while they were in the ascendancy.
When they failed to do so, the inevitable happened as Hassocks scored twice in the space of five minutes to turn the tie on its head.
Nick Pitcher levelled things up on 15 minutes after a Chris Maynard free kick broke to him in the box. The centre back still had plenty to do but he produced a finish as good as anything you’ll see from a seasoned striker to notch his first ever senior goal.
Hassocks’ second was the result of beautifully crafted move which swept from one end to the other. Pitcher started it, playing a great pass down the line to Anthony Hibbert and when Hibbert eventually pulled back, Nathan Miles had timed his run to perfection to convert after arriving at full speed at the back post.
The Robins lost their influential skipper Nathan Cooper to a recurrence of his recent shoulder problems on 34 minutes but the significant blow that could have been was lessened by Jewell being able to call upon the quality of Jamie Ingham from the bench.
Hassocks could and probably should have wrapped the tie up with the second half just two minutes old. Phil Gault’s header fell to Ingham who displayed some fancy footwork to get the ball to Jamie Hillwood.
The goal was gaping for the winger but instead of going for the placement that was required, he opted for power with the result being a shot that cannoned off the underside of the bar before being cleared away by a relieved YM.
That chance aside, Hassocks were very much playing second fiddle. Their cause wasn’t helped when ex-Ringmer midfielder Mark Price was forced off just past the hour mark on what had been an encouraging debut up until that point.
It was no surprise at all when the excellent Brown created and then finished an opportunity for himself to equaliser on 68 minutes and only some increasingly frantic defending from Pitcher, Maynard, Ashley Marsh and Rob South prevented YM from taking the lead.
The efforts of the back four were rewarded with 15 minutes remaining. Ingham released Hillwood and he more than made amends for that earlier miss by finishing expertly to make it 3-2.
It was perhaps more than Hassocks deserved on the day after they gave the ball away far too cheaply but they could do with a little luck in the cups, especially as they have never won a senior trophy in their entire history.
Needless to say, it will not be in this competition that they belatedly break their duck. Still, there are some rich pickings to be had if they can get a mini run going, starting with that trip to Dorking in a fortnight’s time.
Hassocks: Alex Harris; Rob South, Ashley Marsh, Nick Pitcher, Chris Maynard; Anthony Hibbert, Nathan Cooper, Mark Price, Jamie Hillwood; Phil Gault, Nathan Miles.
Subs: Jamie Ingham (Cooper 34), Dan Jacques (Price 62), Tom Davess (Maynard 76), Laurence Robinson, Reece Wickwar (unused).
Starman: It goes jointly to Nicky Pitcher and Jamie Ingham. Pitcher produced some great last-gasp challenges, scored the first goal and played a part in the second, while Ingham was a major influence in the hour or so he was on the park.
