YOUNG ROBINS COME OF AGE WITH MARVELLOUS COMEBACK
A depleted Hassocks squad with an average age of 23 defied the odds with a sensational second half comeback to earn a superb 2-2 draw at high flying Eastbourne Town.
And in the process, they took a huge step towards securing their place in the Southern Combination League Premier Division for another season.
Hassocks looked dead and buried at the interval as they came in trailing 2-0 to goals from George Robinson and Dom Clarke.
But whatever Mark Dalgleish and Phil Wickwar said to their young charges at half time worked as strikes from Phil Johnson and Bradley Bant earned the visitors a share of the spoils.
You could even make an argument that they should have left the Saffrons with all three points after a dreadful piece of officiating denied Johnson a clear penalty.
That key talking point came with eight minutes remaining. Johnson had latched onto a huge punt that both Town defender Sean Kelly and goalkeeper James Broadbent misjudged, leaving the Robins’ top scorer to round Broadbent whose only answer was to upend him.
Johnson was at least a yard inside the box and with the goal at his mercy, meaning that a penalty and a red card for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity could be the only possible outcome.
Yet after referee Elliott Hollobone consulted his assistant, they contrived to make a complete and utter mess out of the situation, first by awarding just a free kick on the edge of the box and then by only booking Broadbent.
Even the Town bench and supporters looked bewildered by the decision and needless to say the Robins contingent were enraged about the episode.
A point was the least that Hassocks deserved having endured a tough first half. Robinson scored from close range after poor defending from a corner on 22 minutes and then Clarke nodded in after an excellent Robinson cross just past the half hour mark.
Ryan Collins’ dipping volley almost pulled one back for the visitors and Jake Booth squandered a great chance, slicing his effort wide when well placed although to be fair to him the ball took a wicked bobble off the very poor surface.
Tom Barnes and Dan Jacques – at 27 the oldest player on the park for Hassocks – handled the giant partnership of Clarke and Kenny Pogue pretty well and when Pogue limped off early in the second half, Hassocks grew in confidence.
George Willett made two excellent saves to deny Clarke and Robinson whilst at the other end Collins will probably still be wondering how he failed to convert Dan Stokes’s free kick from four yards with the goal at his mercy.
Stokes was the most influential player in the second period, finding lots of space and it was his pinpoint cross from Bradley Tighe’s ball down the line that was turned in by Johnson to half the deficit on 68 minutes.
On 77 minutes the Hassocks youngsters were level, Bant’s free kick from 20 yards nestling into the bottom corner via a slight deflection off the end of the wall.
The Robins were now in the ascendancy and if it had not been for that poor refereeing decision, they could have left with three famous points.
Phil Wickwar was full of unmitigated praise for his side afterwards, saying, “To come her with a skeleton squad and get a result was outstanding.”
“I cannot praise this group of players enough. They are all in it together, no big egos and the team ethos is fantastic. We outplayed Town in the second half today and we were disappointed in the end with a point.”
Hassocks: George Willett; Bradley Tighe, Tom Barnes, Dan Jacques, Luke Pawson; Dan Stokes, Nick Pitcher, Bradley Bant, Ryan Collins; Jake Booth, Phil Johnson.
Subs: Mark Price, Phil Wickwar (unused).
Starman: A day when a number of Hassocks’ young players came of age with a battling team performance, but Dan Stokes was superb in the second half in particular and the most influential player.
