It was a mixed Sunday for the Robins as the Under 18s lost their proud unbeaten record which stretched back over a year while the Ladies progressed in the Sussex Women’s Challenge Trophy.
Something had to give at Hanbury Park where the Southern Combination Under 18 Central Division’s two remaining 100% records went on the line.
And it was hosts Haywards Heath Town who triumphed 5-3 in an enthralling Mid Sussex Derby to end Hassocks’ 392-day, 30-game undefeated streak.
The Robins had won the most recent 29 of those but all good things must come to an end and so it proved for Brad Sweetman’s side as they were undone by a Heath outfit who played for the final third of the game with 10 men after the dismissal of Hayden Crowhurst.
Sweetman said afterwards, “It’s always hard when a score line doesn’t reflect the actual game. Individual errors cost us today but we can take the positives that we battered a good team for 90 minutes.”
Hassocks made two changes from the side that had racked up their biggest victory of the season the previous Sunday by winning 8-1 away at bottom club Rottingdean Village. Out went Ross Pedley and Henry Le-May and in came Alex Moulvogny and Alfie Loveridge.
It was the Robins who started the brighter of the two and they were rewarded when they went ahead through Tristan Hayes. Hayes has made quite the impression since his summer arrival at the Beacon, already earning an Under 23 debut and it was rather apt that he netted his 11th goal of the campaign with just 11 minutes played.
That flying start set the tone for a ding-dong match that ebbed one way and flowed the next – real blink-and-you’ll miss it stuff that was a great advert for Under 18s football.
The lead lasted just four minutes before Mahmadou Jawala levelled things up before both sides scored within 60 seconds of each other around the half hour mark, Yahya Azizi netting for the Robins and Matthew Llewellyn for the hosts.
That made it 2-2 but it didn’t stay that way for very long either, Ollie Broad scoring the first goal of what would turn it to be a memorable morning for him in the 38th minute to send Heath into the break 3-2 ahead.
Hassocks left back Josh Sandilands scored direct from a corner in that Rottingdean rout last week and he showed that was no fluke by repeating the trick to make it 3-3 with 30 minutes left to play.
Broad put the hosts 4-3 up seven minutes after that and they were then dealt a blow when Crowhurst saw red to set up a tense last 20 minutes.
Despite setting up camp in the Heath half, Hassocks couldn’t find a way through and it was in fact Heath who scored while playing shorthanded, Broad completing his hat-trick with one minute of normal time remaining to send the hosts above Hassocks to the top of the table.
The Robins will look to bounce back from the defeat tomorrow when they travel to Steyning Town with an 11am kick off at the Shooting Field.
It was a much closer game than expected at the Beacon as top of the table Hassocks Ladies took on bottom of the table Bexhill United in the Sussex Women’s Challenge Trophy.
The Robins squeaked past their visitors 2-1 thanks to goals from Billie Philpott and Kelly Rushworth to set up a quarter final meeting with AFC Littlehampton.
Hassocks were quickest out of the traps and dominated the early exchanges. Rushworth, Philpott, Katherine Chappell and Jodie Johanson all had shots saved, Chappell hit a post and Rushworth did have the ball in the back of the net but it was disallowed for offside.
It was against the run of play then that Bexhill took the lead when a free kick from out on the left floated straight in but the Pirates were ahead for less than two minutes, Ellie Moquet winning the ball to feed Philpott whose low cross was tapped in by Rushworth.
The Robins started the second half slowly until the introduction of Gemma Craig on 56 minutes injected some urgency into the hosts and three minutes later, they scored what proved to be the winner when Liz King found Philpott who produced a cool finish.
Hassocks might have expected to see the game out comfortably from that point but injuries robbed them of the services of Tallie Bright and Chloe John, necessitating a defensive reshuffle. There were a few hairy moments late on, not helped by nine minutes of injury time, but Hassocks did manage to hold on to progress.
Martin Lee’s side take return to league action this Sunday at home to Victoire Development with a 2pm kick off. Entrance to the Beacon is free.
