FIVE STAR TOWN HAMMER HASSOCKS
Two sides seemingly heading in opposite directions for next season met in Easter Monday’s Mid Sussex Derby at Hanbury Park.
A 5-0 victory for hosts Haywards Heath Town took them to the top of the Southern Combination League Premier Division while defeat for Hassocks leaves the visitors three points adrift of safety with four games left and having played at least twice more than every side around them at the bottom of the table.
Barring clubs being relegated for non-playing issues, promotions being denied for ground grading reasons or the greatest of great escapes, the Robins look almost certain to be playing Division One football in 2018/19 which would end a run of 24 consecutive seasons in the top flight.
Where Heath will be come August is less clear. They lead the way with six games remaining yet only two points separate the top five and you can’t discount Chichester City down in sixth either, seven points behind the leaders with two games in hand and a run in including both struggling Eastbourne United and Hassocks.
The Robins could yet do their local rivals a favour then by taking points off Heath’s title rivals then – they also face second placed Pagham on the final day of the season – and if they can combine a repeat of the doggedness of their performance from the first half with being far less wasteful with possession, then they could yet surprise a few people.
Heath were frustrated for the most part and led only 1-0 at the break after Melford Simpson finished off a breakneck counter attack five minutes before half time.
Hassocks had been well placed in the Heath box when they squandered possession to Joel Daly whose hoof up the line was collected by Jamie Weston.
From there, Weston easily shrugged off the challenge of Joe Maskell before releasing Max Miller who advanced into the box and squared to Simpson for the easiest goal the man mountain of a striker is likely to score this season.
It had been a game of few chances before that, the Robins forward line of Jake Lindsey, Jack Wilkins and the experienced Michael Death looking lively without ever testing Josh Heybun.
Heyburn’s opposite number Haig Kingston meanwhile only had one save to make, turning away Josh Spink’s header with his feet after Miller’s explosive pace had taken him past Ben O’Leary.
Miller was a real handful throughout and he was only denied a first half goal of his own by a clever Maskell block on the line after good work by Kane Louis. A Death drive that flew over the bar represented the Robins best opportunity of the opening 45.
The second half was just two minutes old when Heath ruthlessly punished Hassocks for gifting them the ball again.
This time it was Matt Berridge whose attempted pass that was either meant for Dan Stokes or Will Broomfield fell somewhere in between the two of them, right at the feet of Louis.
Louis gleefully latched onto the loose ball, working it through Simpson to Alex Laing who rifled home from the edge of the box. It was quite the impact from Laing who had only been introduced at half time in place of Daly.
Kingston produced another good stop three minutes later as Miller slid in to connect with a Laing cross. Hassocks nearly replicated Heath’s counter attacking goal of the first half but Lindsey’s effort was just wide of the upright.
Kingston denied Laing at his near post before Heyburn produced the save of the game, somehow keeping out Broomfield’s header from point blank range after Jordan Badger had acrobatically turned a deep Berridge corner back into the box.
The result corner resulted in a scramble in which Heath failed to effectively clear their lines. That presented Berridge with another chance to deliver form out wide and deliver he did, finding the head of Badger who was unmarked in the middle of the goal but his glancing header dropped the wrong side of the post.
Heath looked a little ruffled at that point and you sensed if the Robins could pull one back, a tense final 20 minutes could be in store.
Essentially, the next goal was key and Heath nearly had it through a brilliant piece of opportunism. Both Kingston’s punch and Spencer Slaughter’s clearing header were far from convincing but Karly Akehurst’s overhead kick could only find the side netting.
Any hopes Hassocks did have of getting back into the game were extinguished on 75 minutes when Heath added their third and again it came from the Robins losing the ball.
Stokes thought he had been tripped by Naim Rouane as he attempted to turn away from the Heath captain but referee Charles Bowen didn’t agree, waving away Stokes’ appeal and allowing Weston to play the loose ball to Laing. He skipped past Maskell, went outside of Slaughter and pulled back to Simpson who finished with aplomb.
Hassocks were starting to tire by this point and that meant a busy last 15 for Kingston. He turned a one-on-one with Miller around the post, denied Akehurst at full stretch and then stood big when confronted by Laing who had all the time and space in the world before electing to go for the lob which was palmed away.
There was little Kingston could do about goals number four and five for Heath which came in the final five minutes. Hassocks again lost the ball, allowing Miller to find George Hayward who made no mistake from 10 yards.
The hosts rounded things off when Laing went past the Robins’ latest youth team debutant Matt Denyer, Maskell and Joe Russell before squaring to Akehurst who finished.
Hassocks: Haig Kingston; Joe Maskell, Will Broomfield, Spencer Slaughter, Jordan Badger, Ben O’Leary; Dan Stokes, Matt Berridge, Jake Lindsey; Jack Wilkins, Michael Death.
Subs: Joe Russell, Matt Denyer, George Galbraith-Gibbons (used), Connor Bradley, Jake Atherton (unused).
