HEATH WIN LEAVES ROBINS HANGING BY A THREAD
Which division Hassocks will play in for the 2018/19 season could be decided this week without the Robins kicking the ball after a 2-0 defeat away at Broadbridge Heath in their penultimate game of the campaign.
The result leaves Hassocks one place above the relegation zone and one point ahead of both Arundel and Worthing United.
Arundel have two games in hand, playing three times this week with one of those against bottom side Littlehampton Town.
United meanwhile have one game in hand and their season will stretch into the first week of May. There are many permetations but the bottom line is that the Robins will survive if both those sides lose all their remaining games.
That seems unlikely, especially in the case of Arundel, so next weeks home game with Pagham who are themselves still in with a chance of promotion becomes do or die – lose that and it effectively looks as though 24 seasons of top flight football at the Beacon will be at an end.
A victory against Broadbridge Heath could’ve changed all that. Before kick off, there was still a small chance the Bears could’ve found themselves sucked into the dogfight going into the final week, a Hassocks win leaving the Robins just three points behind their hosts.
As it was, second half goals from Gicu Iordache and Devon Fender guaranteed that Steve Painter’s sides first season at their new High Wood Hill Sports Ground, which is set to be completed in August, will be in the Premier Division.
Not many visiting sides will miss visiting the Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre and Hassocks certainly failed to get to grips with a surface that resembled a recently ploughed field, allowing Heath to run out comfortable winners.
It really should’ve been more than 2-0 but goalkeeper Nathan Stroomberg marked his return to the Hassocks side in place of the injured Haig Kingston with an exhibition of shot stopping, particularly in the first half.
The game was just three minutes old when Stroomberg showed good handling to hold a 30 yarder from Javlon Campbell and minutes later he dealt similarly well with a Iordache free kick.
Stuart Chester sent a header over from a George Cousins corner with 15 minutes played and on the half hour mark Stroomberg pulled off a brilliant stop, sprawling across low to his left to push Iordache’s powerful right footed drive against the post.
Bradley Bant had Hassocks’ best chance of the half when his effort deflected off Martyn Flack to wrongfoot Michael Chester in the Bears goal but the ball flew agonisingly wide of the post.
Stroomberg did well to deny a Fender pile driver through a crowd of players after the Robins failed to convincingly clear a Flack long throw but there was little the goalkeeper could do when Iordache opened the scoring after collecting a low Flack cross, dancing around a couple of unconvincing challenges and firing a low effort into the bottom corner.
Hassocks tried to get back into the tie after that but for all the huffing and puffing of their young players the closest they came to troubling Chester was a couple of long range attempts from George Galbraith-Gibbons.
At the other end, Stroomberg kept out another Iordache effort and Fender and Alex Parsons both sent shots over the crossbar.
Heath wrapped the game up with 20 minutes left to play and given how excellent he’d been up until that point, it was hard not to feel for Stroomberg for the role he played in the hosts second.
It was the Hassocks keeper’s weak attempted clearance that went straight to Iordache and he slipped through Fender who gleefully accepted the gift for his first goal since returning from four months on the sidelines through injury.
Hassocks: Nathan Stroomberg; Joe Russell, Will Broomfield, Spencer Slaughter, Jordan Badger; Harry Mills, Dan Stokes, Bradley Bant, Jake Lindsey; George Galbraith-Gibbons, Jack Wilkins.
Subs: Joe Maskell, Connor Bradley, Jake Atherton (used), Mark Price, Phil Wickwar (unused).
