GAME ABANDONED WITH HASSOCKS WELL AHEAD
A serious injury to Steyning Town’s Mo Shugga brought about the abandonment of Hassocks’ Sussex Senior Cup first round tie at the Shooting Field.
The game was 75 minutes old and the Robins cruising through 3-0 against their high-flying Division Two hosts when midfielder Shugga slowly went to ground with nobody around him before complaining of neck pains.
An ambulance was called and with Shugga unable to move, proceedings understandably came to a premature ending. Shugga was later discharged from hospital after receiving the all-clear with both clubs expressing their relief that there was nothing seriously wrong from what was an extremely worrying incident.
As for the result of the game, it will now be up to the Sussex County FA to rule as to whether it stands or if a replay is required.
Given that the Robins were comfortably ahead, it seems likely that powers that be at Culver Road will allow Hassocks to move into round two, where they will face a tough looking trip to reigning County League champions Peacehaven & Telscombe.
This meeting between Robins and Barrowmen had been eagerly anticipated by a number of players given the links between the two clubs.
In the Steyning dugout sat former Hassocks manager John Suter while Mickey Jewell’s current number two Mark Dalgleish is himself an ex-Town boss. On the pitch, Suter named former Hassocks right back Jake Mills in his starting line up.
It was however the latest man to make the move from Shooting Field to the Beacon who proved to be the best player on show as Craig Knowles continued his impressive start to life in a Hassocks shirt by being involved in all three of the visitors’ goals.
The first arrived after just five minutes and it was Knowles himself who netted it, finishing well from the edge of the box after some nice approach play from the impressive George Brown on what was the teenager’s first senior start.
Two minutes later and it was 2-0. This time, Knowles chased down a long Alex Harris clearance before being halted illegally five yards outside the Steyning box.
Phil Gault duly dispatched the resulting free kick in trademark style, curling it into the top corner to double the Robins’ advantage.
The hosts’ first attempt on goal arrived after a quarter of an hour, Harris doing well to tip behind a set piece from Davie Harris.
Gault then had an opportunity to sew things up before the half but he hit his effort straight at Steyning goalkeeper Rhys Griffiths after Anthony Hibbert and Brown had combined to find the Hassocks marksman.
Whatever Suter said at the break had the desired effect as Steyning began the second half the better side, fashioning two great chances to get back into the tie.
Hassocks were indebted to a stunning last-ditch tackle from Rob South after the bobbly surface left Ashley Marsh and Nick Pitcher’s attempts to play out from the back in tatters. That was followed by a huge let off as Ashley Finch sent a free header over the bar from eight yards.
Knowles duly punished those misses just before the hour mark. Another long ball bounced over the top of the home defence and despite Griffths doing well to force Knowles wide, Knowles’ resulting ball back into the box was turned in by a covering defender for an unfortunate own goal.
3-0 ahead, Hassocks handed a senior debut to Under 18s captain Dan Stokes in place of the impressive Brown while there were also run outs from the bench for Stuart Brown and Dan Jacques before the concerning scenes involving Shugga.
Hassocks: Alex Harris; Rob South, Ashley Marsh, Nick Pitcher, Chris Maynard; Jamie Ingham, Anthony Hibbert, Kieran O’Callaghan, George Brown; Phil Gault, Craig Knowles.
Subs: Dan Stokes (G Brown 58), Stuart Brown (O’Callaghan 64), Dan Jacques (Ingham 70), Aaron Czech (unused).
