ROBINS END HOME SEASON BY BEING SMASHED BY SHOREHAM
Last time Shoreham visited the Beacon, Hassocks gave one of the best performances of their 25 years as a Southern Combination League Premier Division club by hammering 4-1 the side who would go onto be crowned champions.
Fast forward two-and-a-bit years and the result couldn’t have been more different as the Robins were smashed 5-0 in the Mid Sussex sunshine by opponents who started the day bottom of the table, without a win since the start of January and staring a second consecutive relegation in the face.
This three points has given Shoreham a fighting chance of staying up, lifting them to 18th spot in the table with the gap to fourth-bottom Little Common now five points with two games left to play.
They may not even need to catch Common should only two teams be relegated due to ground grading, as was the case last season when Hassocks survived.
The Robins have enjoyed a much more fruitful campaign this time around and their own Premier Division safety was confirmed some weeks ago.
That meant they had nothing to play for, but even so this was a disappointing way to sign off in front of their own fans for the season with their remaining two games both on the road to fellow mid table sides Lancing and AFC Uckfield Town.
In their last outing a fortnight ago away at Horsham YMCA, Hassocks had pushed Peter Buckland’s promotion chasers all the way despite going to Gorings Mead with a threadbare squad.
Mark Dalgleish welcomed many of his big guns back including his attacking triumvirate of Phil Johnson, James Littlejohn and Liam Benson – although Benson had to settle for a spot on the bench – but they couldn’t lay a glove on a Shoreham side who had the best player on the pitch in Mohamed Diallo.
Diallo, a former Stoke City youngster, is one of several new faces to have joined Shoreham since they appointed Lewes Under 18s manager Dale Hurley as their new boss at the end of March.
Hurley, who had a brief spell in charge of Hassocks Reserves in 2014, has put his contacts at the Dripping Pan to good use to bring in the likes of Diallo and if the right sided player performs like this in the Musselmen’s final two fixtures against Saltdean United and Newhaven, then they may yet avoid the drop despite the tough look of those games.
Diallo netted an 11 minute hat-trick towards the end of the first half which effectively ended the tie as a contest. The first of those came on 32 minutes, the second on 36 and the third on 43 as Hassocks were left looking shell shocked.
Before that, it looked like the game would offer typical end of season fare as both sides struggled to make inroads on a scorching hot day with the soaring temperatures doing little to aid the quality of football on show.
3-0 at the break became 5-0 by the time referee Thomas Price blew the whistle for full time. Substitute Martin Mutungi made it 4-0 with five minutes remaining and Diallo added his fourth and the visitors fifth of the afternoon in the third minute of injury time.
Hassocks: Josh Green; Harvey Blake, Dan Jacques, Harry Mills, Jordan Badger; Dan Stokes, Lewis Westlake, Harvey Enticknap; James Littlejohn, Phil Johnson, Andy Whittingham.
Subs: Liam Benson, Joe Bull, Bradley Tighe (used).
Starman: Harvey Enticknap.
