BATTLING ROBINS PUSH TOWN ALL THE WAY
Eastbourne Town held their annual Christmas Charity Day as Hassocks visited the Saffrons but the Robins clearly didn’t get the memo as they pushed their in-form hosts all the way before succumbing to a 2-1 defeat.
Off the pitch, the second-biggest ninth tier crowd across the whole country of 261 was in a charitable mood, helping to raise a staggering £1060 for Memory Lane, a local charity who help provide social activities for those with dementia and their carers.
On it, Hassocks were feeling far from generous as they left Town never really certain of the three points until referee Adam Parry blew his whistle for full time, much to the obvious delight and relief of a boisterous home crowd.
Entrance was free with supporters instead asked to make a bucket donation to Memory Lane, a brilliant initiative which would have left the hosts out of pocket for the day but done wonderful things for their local community.
Those who took advantage of the offer could have been forgiven for thinking that they’d turn up and watch a routine Town win given the contrasting form both sides arrived in.
John Lambert’s side had made their traditional slow start to the season, picking up just one win from their first six matches across all competitions.
That may have put a serious dent in their hopes for a tilt at the Southern Combination League title, but things have picked up markedly since the start of October and they came into the clash having beaten three of the top five in their last six fixtures.
Hassocks meanwhile had won just one of their last six and haven’t tasted victory at the Saffrons for nearly 13 years, a Stuart Faith goal giving Dave John’s side a shock 1-0 win back in February 2006.
The Robins’ cause on this day wasn’t helped by several notable absentees including goalkeeper Josh Green who was replaced by current Under 18s number one Toby Fisher. Fisher was just three years old when Hassocks last left the Sunshine Coast with all three points.
Spencer Slaughter was also unavailable but on the credit side, Mark Dalgleish gave a second debut to Andy Whittingham who has returned to the Beacon seven years after leaving the club for Seaford Town.
The left sided player has since gone onto play for AFC Uckfield Town and Hailsham Town and he will add some more bite to a side that can sometimes appear overly nice, as evidenced by the fact he picked up a yellow card with the second half just a couple of minutes old.
The scores were still level at that point, Fisher impressing once again with the back four of Bradley Tighe, Jordan Badger, Harry Mills and Will Broomfield doing a far better job of protecting him than they’d managed on the young custodian’s debut when he’d picked up the man-of-the-match award despite conceding six times away at Broadbridge Heath a month previously.
It had been a scrappy first half with Mr Parry’s notebook getting through as much work as any of the 22 players on the pitch as bookings were flashed to Ollie Black and Sonny Dullaway for the hosts and Alex Spinks for the visitors.
Dullaway added a goal to his caution, opening the scoring with 49 minutes on the clock and five minutes later it was 2-0 thanks to Marcus Goldsmith.
At that point, Hassocks supporters could’ve been fearing the worse as their side have alarmingly collapsed when conceding goals in quick succession to Town in the past, most notably in the last meeting between the two at the Beacon when Even Archibald scored a 40-minute hat-trick.
The Robins regained their composure here though and gave themselves a lifeline back into the tie with 25 minutes left to play when James Westlake scored his first goal in just his second appearance of the season after returning from his running commitments.
Dalgleish threw on strikers Jake Lindsey and Liam Benson after that but Hassocks couldn’t quite find a way through, leaving Town as winners on the pitch and Memory Lane as winners off it.
Hassocks: Toby Fisher; Bradley Tighe, Will Broomfield, Harry Mills, Jordan Badger; Harvey Blake, James Westlake, Alex Spinks, Harvey Enticknap, Andy Whittingham; Phil Johnson.
Subs: Dan Stokes, Liam Benson, Jake Lindsey (used), Dan Jacques, Joe Bull (unused).
Starman: James Westlake
