HASSOCKS COME CLOSE TO SHOCKING THE TITLE FAVOURITES
A much improved display from Hassocks saw them come mighty close to taking a shock point from Southern Combination title favourites Horsham before they fell to a 2-1 defeat at Gorings Mead.
The table topping Hornets had been frustrated in the opening game of the season when these two sides met at the Beacon as Hassocks put in an excellent display to hold the their illustrious visitors to a draw on what was their first game at this level of football for over 50 years following relegation from Ryman South last season.
And the Robins nearly repeated the trick here, missing two golden opportunities in stoppage time to take a second point of the season from Dom Di Paolo’s outfit, who have dropped just six points in the four months since that barmy August afternoon in Mid Sussex.
Horsham began the game the livelier of the two with Charlie Farmer and Jack Rowe-Hurst both having early half chances from which they failed to test Alex Harris, while the young Hassocks goalkeeper was relieved to see Terry Dodd’s header placed straight at him from Adam Hunt’s cross.
After weathering that early storm, the Robins grew into the encounter and they were denied the chance to go ahead when a marginal offside call went against Dan Stokes after he was played in by Bradley Bant.
That was a warning sign for Horsham that they failed to yield as a minute later, Hassocks silenced the home support when they took a shock lead through James Westlake.
A loose pass from Farmer to Ash Jones was the catalyst as Bant seized on that sloppiness to collect possession, surge forward and cross for Westlake to sweep home for his first goal since returning to Hassocks from Haywards Heath Town.
The goal shocked Horsham and they were at sixes and sevens after that. Michael Death nearly took advantage to score against his former club but his effort flew just over the crossbar after Stokes’ driving run down the right caused problems.
Just before the half hour mark the scores were levelled, Kieron Pamment’s cross in being mishit by Graham Martin with the ball fortunately falling to Evan Archibald who dangled out a leg to flick home past the helpless Harris.
Pamment and Dan Jacques were having a right tussle down the Robins left hand side and things boiled over less than a minute after the equaliser, Jacques taking exception to being elbowed in the face by the Hornets wide man by dishing out a stamp of his own which unsurprisingly caused an angry confrontation between both sides.
Somehow both the perpetrators got away without so much as a yellow with Ashley Marsh and home captain Joe Shelley both being cautioned for their part in the ensuing handbags.
Hassocks’ alarming record of conceding goals in the final five minutes of either half was in evidence again as Horsham took the lead on 42 minutes, Archibald netting his second of the afternoon with a superb individual goal that saw him scamper away down the left, skip past a couple of challenges and clip an effort into the top corner.
One of the more unlikely sights in football followed that when Rowan Wallis came steam rolling forward from centre back to hit a distance effort over the bar right on the stroke of half time.
The second half proved to be a much less exciting affair than the first until those two chances in stoppage time. Stokes saw the ball nicked off his foot by the sprawling Gareth Williams in the Horsham goal just when it looked like he was about to pull the trigger for an equaliser and then a superb free kick delivery from Westlake flashed across goal when even the faintest of touches would have brought the Robins level.
Still, there was plenty of reason for encouragement after a barren couple of months in which the Robins failed to win for 10 games, with Phil Wickwar looking a much happier man afterwards.
“Our performance today was a lot more like what we expect from a Hassocks team. We could easily have nicked a point in the last 10 and we certainly had them rattled.
“They are a top side and now we need to take that performance and application into the bigger games we have coming up against teams around us in the table.”
Hassocks: Alex Harris; Tom Barnes, Ashley Marsh, Rowan Wallis, Dan Jacques; James Westlake, Josh Hawkes, Spencer Slaughter, Bradley Bant, Dan Stokes; Michael Death.
Subs: Bradley Tighe (Barnes), Oscar Wolfstrome (Slaughter), Jamie Hillwood, Reece Wickwar, Phil Wickwar (unused).
