LINDSEY LEVELS LATE TO RESCUE ROBINS A POINT
A run of seven home games out of their next 11 fixtures will define Hassocks’ season, determining whether they are to avoid dropping out of the top flight of the Southern Combination League for the first time since 1994 and they kicked off that sequence with a 2-2 draw against fellow strugglers East Preston.
Before kick off, this looked to be exactly the sort of game Hassocks need to be picking up maximum points from if they are to survive. By full time, those at the Beacon were talking it up as a point gained which was hardly surprising given the circumstances they found themselves in.
They were trailing 2-1 as late as the 88th minute when 17-year-old Jake Lindsey chose an extremely timely moment to net his first senior goal for the Robins.
At the other end of the age spectrum, joint-boss Phil Wickwar celebrated his 43rd birthday by having to play the 90 minutes in goal as an all-too-familiar goalkeeper crisis occurred once again.
Wickwar became the fifth different man to don the gloves this season for Hassocks, although he marked the occasion with one of the more convincing performances seen in the number one shirt so far, even taking the man-of-the-match plaudits with some excellent stops that rolled back the years.
“We carried on from our second half performance of last week, particularly the young lads who again looked more than comfortable at this level,” Wickwar said afterwards, once he’d finished applying WD40 to his joints.
“It was a great finish from young Jake and given the goalkeeping situation, it’s a good point. If we keep the fight we showed today up for the rest of the season then we’ve got a chance of getting out of this.”
Hassocks gave a debut to Charlie Bennett, a Burgess Hill Town Under 21 striker who has joined the club from Broadbridge Heath.
Bennett hasn’t played for the Bears for a couple of months so this was throwing him into the deep end rather but he displayed some nice touches and looks a good prospect based on this showing.
It was his strike partner Michael Death who opened the scoring with 10 minutes on the clock. This was Death’s 100th appearance for the Robins and he marked it in style, driving a powerful effort from 18 yards into the bottom left hand corner of Benjamin Purkis’ goal for his 35th goal for the club.
There was no let up after that; Lindsey causing constant panic in the EP defence with his fearless runs into dangerous territory and Dan Stokes went close with a cross-shot that left Purkis slightly confused.
EP’s equaliser came against the run of play midway through the first half and it was an unfortunate one from a Hassocks point of view.
Ryan Quirke managed to twist, turn and weave his way into the box without so much as a meaningful challenge and although he saw his first effort well saved by Wickwar, Qurike was able to pick up the rebound and turn it back into the box where it ricocheted into the empty net off a Hassocks defender for 1-1.
The Robins didn’t have an answer to Quirke’s probing runs at this point as he forced Wickwar into another good stop and drew a cynical trip from Joe Maskell which earned the Robins right back a yellow card.
Wickwar was again called into action on the stroke of half time, scrambling to keep out a Hayden Hunter header from a Luke Brodie cross which resulted in a flurry of corners. Hassocks did eventually manage to scramble away.
Both sides had chances early in the second half, Matthew Searle producing a real defenders finish as he somehow poked wide from a matter of yards after Hassocks had failed to clear a free kick.
At the other end, Jordan Badger came charging forward from left back to hit a long range volley which dipped just over the bar.
Wickwar’s best save of the afternoon came when he got down brilliantly to palm away a shot low to his left and Matt Berridge thought he’d put the Robins back into the lead but his effort was kept out thanks to an unbelievable block from Searle, making up for that earlier miss.
Hassocks still hadn’t found a way to deal with Quirke and he punished them for it by putting EP in the lead with 69 minutes on the clock.
It was a carbon copy of his two marauding runs in the first half, only this time he ended it with the ball being slotted past Wickwar at the near post.
There were comical scenes after that when a member of the EP coaching staff stepped forward and tripped up Maskell as he attempted to get back into position to defend a throw.
That led to a fracas and although it was hard to tell exactly what was going on, the end result was the guilty party from the visiting bench being sent to the stands and a booking for Will Broomfield who had waded into things a little too excitedly.
Things were heating up nicely now and there were further cards for the hosts’ Harry Mills and the visitors’ Jack Barnes before a glorious chance fell to Hassocks with five minutes remaining as a game of pinball ensued in the box but nobody in a red shirt was able to apply a finishing touch before EP cleared effectively.
They weren’t so effective in clearing two minutes later however. A weak header fell to Death who showed great vision to poke the ball through to Lindsey.
The teenager still had plenty of work to do but he showed a cool head to round a defender and finish low and hard past Purkis to secure a share of the spoils for the Robins.
Hassocks: Phil Wickwar; Joe Maskell, Will Broomfield, Spencer Slaughter, Jordan Badger; Dan Stokes, Harry Mills, Matt Berridge, Jake Lindsey; Charlie Bennett, Michael Death.
Subs: Jake Atherton, Bradley Bant, Josh Tuck (used), Ashley Marsh (unused).
Starman: Phil Wickwar.
