Liam Benson has been voted as Hassocks Player of the Month for December after a blistering run of goal scoring form to round of 2018
The striker notched in the Robins’ final two games of the year to help Hassocks to a festive haul of seven points from a possible nine.
Coming up against his former club Lancing on Boxing Day, Benson showed his liking for notching against old employers – he’d scored twice at the Beacon back in March in the Lancers’ colours on his first game against Hassocks since moving to Culver Road – when he netted a 58th minute equaliser for the Robins.
That paved the way for the Mark Dalgleish’s side to go onto win the game and pick up three crucial points.
Benson was at it again three days later, this time scoring the only goal of the game as Hassocks came away from struggling Shoreham with all three points via a 1-0 win.
It was a clever goal from the striker which arrived with 30 minutes played at Middle Road.
Shoreham couldn’t clear a Jake Lindsey corner and when Spencer Slaughter drove in a low shot from the edge of the box, Benson showed quick reactions to stick out a foot and divert the ball over the head of Ben Kirk-Patrick guarding the post and into the top corner.
That was Benson’s ninth of the season, leaving him already two goals ahead of his best-ever tally for Hassocks.
The award is a particularly impressive achievement for Benson given that he’d started December out of the side and having to settle for appearances from the substitutes bench in the month’s first two matches against Eastbourne Town and Haywards Heath Town.
There was hardly anything between second and third in the voting, with Phil Johnson securing just one percent more of the vote than Will Broomfield to secure the runners up spot.
This was the third month in succession that Johnson has finished second – he was third in August’s vote as well – which just highlights the consistency with which the Robins’ top scorer has been performing so far this season.
Just like Benson, Johnson scored twice in December with his goals coming in the 3-3 draw away at Chichester City and the win over Lancing.
Both were of the highest quality, Johnson running onto a long ball over the top at the Countywide Gas Stadium to expertly poke past the hesitant Jordan Matthews in the Chi goal and kickstart the Robins comeback from 2-0 down against the league leaders.
His goal against Lancing was described by teammate Spencer Slaughter as “Thierry Henry-esque”. There didn’t seem much on when the Robins’ top scorer got the ball with his back to goal but he produced a sublime turn in the box and then slotted the ball across Lancers keeper Matt Evans and into the far corner.
Broomfield put in a string of superlative performances at the heart of the Hassocks defence to earn third place, his ability to build play from the back proving to be crucial in the Boxing Day win in particular.
It’s been a good month all round really for the Robins and the fact that Harry Mills – also outstanding at the back, and Jake Lindsey – who was a livewire across all six fixture – didn’t make the final three says everything about the level of Hassocks’ performances across December.
