HUET HITS ONLY GOAL AS HASSOCKS GO DOWN AT EP
There was one tweet sent out from the official Hassocks Twitter feed following the 1-0 defeat away at East Preston on Saturday that summed up not just the Robins disappointing afternoon but also their struggles in the early part of this season.
After every game, supporters are given the opportunity to vote for their man of the match. The clear winner from the loss at the Lashmar was James Westlake, not a bad achievement for somebody who didn’t even make it onto the pitch.
The diminutive midfielder remains on the injury list but found himself running the line for 80 minutes. That came about after an injury to referee Gary Hamilton just past the 10 minute mark.
Hamilton was replaced in the middle by Chris Porter with Westlake, a qualified referee, answering the plea for anyone in attendance with officiating experience to help the game continue. Given the result to newly promoted opposition, the Robins will probably curse their luck that it did.
The only goal arrived 11 minutes after that enforced break, EP’s Dan Huet sending a looping header over Nathan Stroomberg and into the very top corner of the net from an excellent Jared Rance cross.
The worry for Hassocks currently is that they don’t seem to be able to put both parts of their game together at the same time.
The opening fortnight of the season saw them scoring freely but leaking goals at the other end. Now they’ve tightened up defensively but can’t seem to buy a goal.
They were boosted here by Phil Gault having his first outing of the season and the return of Charlie Pitcher from Haywards Heath Town but still could not find a way past Chris Cook in the EP goal or his defence.
That wasn’t for the want of trying. Both teams had numerous chances but a combination of some pretty woeful finishing and some inspired goalkeeping from both Cook and his opposite number Stroomberg ensured that Huet’s header was ultimately the deciding factor.
For EP, those opportunities fell to Rance who shot wide when well placed, Hayden Hunter who was inches away from connecting with a Rance cross and Lucas Franzen-Jones and Jack Barnes who were both off target when front and centre of the goal.
Hassocks weathered that particular storm and came close to nicking an equaliser just before the break. Given the relentless waves of attack EP were throwing together, set pieces looked to be the Robins best way back into things and a couple of corners late on were only kept out by some inspired goalkeeping from Cook.
Half time came at a good point for EP as they were able to regroup, starting the second 45 in the same manner as they had the first while Hassocks lost any momentum that flurry of intent just before the break may have given them.
Again though and luckily Hassocks, the hosts couldn’t transform their domination onto the scoreboard, this time the guilty parties being Hunter twice including one effort hacked off the line and then Huet produced a miss that defied belief as he shot wide when three yards out and the goal at his mercy.
Hassocks threw on both Pitcher and Nathan Miles in a bold move to try and salvage something from the game and it nearly worked as the pendulum swung and they spent the last 10 minutes camped in the EP half.
Cook was equal to everything that Hassocks could throw at him in that period however and EP held on for a deserved three points.
Hassocks: Nathan Stroomberg; Tom Barnes, Harry Mills, Jordan Badger; Dan Stokes, Spencer Slaughter, Phil Gault, Lewis Westlake, Bradley Bant; Liam Benson, Michael Death.
Subs: Charlie Pitcher, Nathan Miles, Luke Akehurst (used).
