HEATH HAVE A HAND ON THE TITLE AFTER DERBY DAY WIN
A bumper crowd packed out the Beacon for only the second Mid Sussex Derby between Hassocks and Haywards Heath in 25 years.
And they may well have seen the Premier Division’s eventual champions in action as Heath took a huge step towards securing their first Southern Combination League title since 1970 thanks to a 2-0 victory.
Heath have long been on the tail of Shoreham, doggedly stalking their prey all season. They finally overtook the Mussels on Saturday thanks to a combination of their own victory over Eastbourne Town and Shoreham’s shock home reversal to Horsham YMCA.
Just under 48 hours later and Heath maintained their new-found one point advantage at the top thanks to a double for Jamie Weston against his former club. With just two games remaining, the title is now Heath’s to lose.
Should they finish the season at the top of the pile, then Hassocks themselves will have played a small yet significant part in their local rival’s success.
They became only the third team to defeat Shoreham this season when dishing out a 4-1 hammering back in February. Since then, the Robins have become one of the form sides in the league putting together a run that included six straight home victories prior to this Easter Monday meeting.
So here were two sides seemingly at the peak of their season’s powers clashing with much more than local pride at stake.
It had all the ingredients for a classic and by and large it lived up to those expectations as both sides put on an entertaining encounter with plenty of attacking intent.
In Weston, Heath had the games outstanding player. It was a spell binding performance as the man known as The Wizard showed why he has a magical moniker.
Weston fashioned the first real chance of the game, sending a cross towards the giant figure of Melford Simpson whose downwards header was swept weakly into the arms of James Broadbent via a Karl Akehurst volley. Weston then hit an effort just over after some tricky footwork bamboozled both Bradley Tighe and Luke Akehurst.
Hassocks looked most dangerous from set pieces, one Lewis Westlake delivery in particular leading Simon Lehkyj to have a right flap up with only Nathan Cooper’s header off the line preventing the Robins from taking the lead.
Gault dinked a ball towards the far post after another Westlake delivery caused problems but it was agonisingly out of reach of Charlie Pitcher and Simpson nipped past Broadbent only to see the covering Akehurst make a last ditch tackle to prevent what could have been an open goal.
The opener arrived on 23 minutes and as outstanding as Weston was throughout the game, there was certainly an element of luck to it.
Naim Rouane floated a ball into the box which Simpson again knocked down. The onrushing Weston sprinted past Akehurst and met the lose ball with a left footed effort which hit the bar, rebounding straight onto the head of the hapless Broadbent and over the line despite the goalkeepers best efforts to scramble it away.
Hassocks’ best chance of the half came straight off the training ground. A short corner routine caught Heath completely unawares, Tighe running from the halfway line to collect the ball and maraud to the edge of the box from where he was allowed to send the ball goalwards towards Gault who saw his cushioned header rattle the bar.
It was a pretty one sided affair in the opening exchanges of the second half, Hassocks doing all the pressing and pushing with Pitcher looking a real threat in particular.
Substitute Dan Stokes was only inches wide with a pea roller from a Gault cutback and Westlake sent in another free kick which nobody could connect with.
At the other end, Simpson again won a towering header but it was superbly repelled by Broadbent. The Heath striker was proving a real handful, Gault even resorting to the unusual technique of pulling down Simpson’s shorts as Hassocks defended a corner.
This led to much disgruntlement among the travelling support. They even claimed to having captured it on film, leading some to believe that the Robins’ record scorer might be looking for a career in the adult entertainment industry once his footballing days are over.
Simpson was having none of the nonsense however and from the very same delivery, he put Jordan Badger into a chicken wing chokehold, resulting in some unseemly handbags. Shortly after, the big striker brought a free kick down expertly only to be denied by the feet of Broadbent.
It was another coming together between Simpson and Badger that led to Heath’s second. A pumped ball into the box saw the pair tangle with Simpson again showing some good wrestling knowledge as he appeared to take down his adversary with a knee to the back of the leg.
Robins boss Phil Wickwar said afterwards that he felt it was a certain foul and he may have had a point. That wasn’t a view shared by the otherwise excellent referee Ciaran Fidler however and with no whistle forthcoming, Akehurst collected the loose ball and rolled it back to the onrushing Weston who made no mistake with his finish.
That may have been against the run of play but for all Hassocks’ possession and pressure, they never really tested the under worked Lehkyj.
In fact, it was Heath who had the clearer chances late on with Broadbent making a fine one-on-one stop from Kane Louis and Tom Barnes making a solid block when substitute Trevor McCreadie went through at the death.
Hassocks: James Broadbent; Bradley Tighe, Jordan Badger, Luke Akehurst, Ashley Marsh; Lewis Westlake, Tom Barnes, Jack Rowe-Hurst; Phil Gault; Liam Benson, Charlie Pitcher.
Subs: James Westlake, Michael Death, Dan Stokes (used), Mark Price, Ben John (unused).
Starman: James Broadbent.
