ALL TOO PREDICTABLE AS HASSOCKS LOSE AT YMCA
With just two league victories from 19 previous visits to Horsham YMCA, you’d have got long odds before kick off on Gorings Mead being the venue where Hassocks arrested their recent slump in form.
And so it proved, the Robins’ winless run being stretched to five games as Peter Buckland’s title challengers ran out convincing 4-1 winners against their struggling visitors.
Losing at YM comes as no surprise to the Hassocks faithful but that wasn’t the only sense of deja vu doing the rounds.
In the Robins’ 3-0 weekend defeat to Lancing, the first two goals they’d conceded had been soft in the extreme and that was again the case on this occasion.
While the Hassocks defence were highly culpable for both of those at Culver Road, here it was referee Jamie Wells who bore the brunt of the visitors’ complaints after he allowed YM’s opener to stand in extraordinary circumstances.
Reece Wickwar had two reasonably firm hands on the ball when home forward Dave Brown headed it from his grip and rolled into the empty net.
With the whole of the ground waiting for Mr Wells to blow his whistle and award a free kick, there was disbelief among both home and away contingents when he instead pointed to the centre circle and allowed the goal to stand.
That decision rocked Hassocks which was a real shame as they’d actually started the better of the two teams. Phil Gault had gone close to giving the Robins the lead against one of his former club with a magnificent effort from a full 30 yards that just clipped the top of the crossbar with 14 minutes played.
While Brown’s goal was 100% down to questionable officiating, the goal that doubled YM’s lead four minutes later was a downright farce that should have been accompanied by the Benny Hill theme tune.
They say when you are struggling you never get the rub of the green and that was certainly the case for Hassocks. Wickwar made a superb save to repel Brown’s effort, only to see Dan Jacques’ attempted clearance of the loose ball cannon straight into the back of the unaware Josh Hawkes and into the unguarded net for an own goal.
The game was up five minutes after the restart and it was a familiar face who hammered the third nail into the Hassocks coffin, Hassocks’ fourth highest appearance maker and goal scorer in senior football Anthony Hibbert tapping home from close range.
Hibbert had the grace not to celebrate against the club he left after 12 years of service last September in the hope of winning the silverware that his talents deserve.
Hassocks pulled one back midway through the second half through Jamie Hillwood. It was a well worked goal as Gault laid off on the edge of the box to the mercurial Hillwood who riffled home past Mark Fox in the YM goal for his second of the campaign.
The home side ended up adding some gloss to the scoreline in stoppage time, left back Dan Evans embarking on a marauding run forward that he finished in some style with a powerful drive past the helpless Wickwar.
Hassocks: Reece Wickwar; Tom Barnes, Ashley Marsh, Nick Pitcher, Dan Jacques; Mark Price, Bradley Bant, Josh Hawkes, Spencer Slaughter, Jamie Hillwood; Phil Gault.
Subs: Michael Death, Bradley Tighe, Luke Akehurst (used), Rowan Wallis, George Willett (unused).
