DEATH AT THE DOUBLE AS HASSOCKS HAUNT HAILSHAM
Hailsham Town arrived at the Beacon with just four points on the board so far this season and looking all but doomed to relegation to Division One.
This was a must win game then if Hassocks are to avoid following the Stringers out of the top flight and they got the job done with a professional 4-0 victory, putting four points between themselves and the bottom three in the process.
The importance of the three points became even more apparent afterwards when news filtered through to the Beacon that Arundel – one of the three clubs below Hassocks in the table at the start of the afternoon – had picked up a shock win at fourth place Pagham.
“A decent team performance with decent goals and a decent clean sheet,” was how Phil Wickwar described it afterwards – which suggested he thought it was decent.
“It was a real team performance and I can’t praise the team enough for the way they dealt with what could’ve been a potential banana skin given our pretty ropy form since the turn of the year.”
Hassocks began the game firmly on the front foot with the Hailsham Town post proving to be busier than most of the players in the opening 10 minutes.
It was hit early doors by James Westlake, an industrious presence in the middle of the park, and then by young Jack Rowe-Hurst who, based on the evidence of this home debut, looks to be quite the signing for the Robins.
In fact, it was Rowe-Hurst who opened the scoring with his first goal in Hassocks colours just five minutes after he had been denied by the upright.
Ten minutes later and Michael Death got in on the act by doubling the lead to take his tally for the season into double figures.
The more confident among the Hassocks faithful might have had visions of the 8-0 victory that their side inflicted on Hailsham back in the heady days of August, but this version of the Stringers are nowhere near as brittle as they were at the start of the season.
That was evident in the fact that despite their poor start to the game, they never ended up at sixes and sevens as they did at the Beaconsfield that day, refusing to fold like napkins throughout the afternoon.
In contrast, the lesser confident of the Hassocks support were no doubt recalling the opposite scenario of that big win earlier in the campaign, having also seen the Stringers launch a remarkable comeback from 4-0 down to draw 4-4 with the Robins last season.
Hassocks went into the break with that two goal lead intact but any worries about a Hailsham comeback were eased when Death added his second and Hassocks’ third just before the hour mark.
While Hassocks’ form since the turn of the year has been a real cause for concern, Death’s own personal performances have not and that made it four goals in his past four appearances.
The scoring was rounded off with 15 minutes to play by James Westlake. At the other end, James Broadbent remained largely untroubled to claim his eighth clean sheet of the season, an impressive figure for a goalkeeper playing for a club embroiled in a relegation battle.
League leaders Shoreham lie in wait on Tuesday night for the Robins, which Wickwar is looking at with a hint of realistic trepidation.
“It’s one of the toughest games we will face this season. We will have to be at our best and have things go our way to get something, but we will be giving it a right good go.”
Hassocks: James Broadbent; Bradley Tighe, Tom Barnes, Jordan Badger, Luke Akehurst; Harry Mills; James Westlake, Lewis Westlake; Jack Rowe-Hurst; Michael Death, Liam Benson.
Subs: Spencer Slaughter, George Galbraith-Gibbons, Jack Wilkins (used).
Starman: Liam Benson.
