THREADBARE HASSOCKS GIVE YMCA A REAL FRIGHT
Getting a result from Horsham YMCA would have been a tall order for Hassocks even with their best side available, so to come away from Gorings Mead having given their promotion chasing hosts a real fright represented a decent afternoon for the Robins.
They had gone into the break 1-0 ahead thanks to Jake Lindsey’s seventh goal of the season and had they taken a succession of first half chances, we might even be talking about a famous win against a side who came into the clash with seven victories from their past eight fixtures.
As it was, second half goals from Jack Hartley and Alex Barbary ensured the three points remained in Horsham, giving YM some revenge for the 5-3 hammering they received at the Beacon back in January.
The scorers on that day were Phil Johnson, Will Broomfield, James Littlejohn and Liam Benson and all four of those were among the absentees here.
Benson and Johnson’s unavailability was particularly damaging to Hassocks given that the pair have plundered 40 goals between them and Johnson would no doubt have been keen to get on the score sheet again against his former club. Other regulars to be missing included Bradley Tighe, Spencer Slaughter and George Brown.
That meant that Mark Dalgleish had to dip into the Robins’ Under 23 squad, handing a debut to Louie Derham at right back whilst James Oliver made his first appearance since 2016 from the substitutes bench.
Both are enjoying excellent seasons as Hassocks’ side challenge for the Southern Combination League West Division title, where they lead the way from YM with four games left to play.
It was another of Hassocks’ prodigious young talents who opened the scoring with just five minutes played. There was a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of 19-year-old Lindsey as he led the line in the absence of Johnson, Benson and Littlejohn but he duly delivered, shocking the hosts by giving Hassocks an early lead.
The Robins were much the better side for the remaining 40 minutes of the first half, creating a glut of chances with Aaron Jeal the busier of the two goalkeepers.
YM made an enforced change at the break as they lost Tom Gilbert to injury but whatever boss Peter Buckland said clearly had the desired effect as two goals in the space of eight second half minutes proved to be decisive.
The first of those arrived on 55, Hartley finishing clinically after Jack Frankland had shot wide and Callum Donaghey had been forced into making an excellent block from Lindsey.
Eight minutes later and Barbary notched what proved to be the winner, leaving Josh Green with absolutely no chance as he blasted the ball into the top left corner of the Hassocks net.
YM were well on top now and Dean Brown sent a looping shot just over, Hartley was off target with a long ranger and substitute Tony Nwachukwu put a header wide with the whole goal to aim at.
The hosts had to play out the last 20 or so minutes with only 10 men after Hartley was controversially dismissed. Already on a booking, the winger was shown a second yellow card for diving in the box after he went down a little too easily after being inadvertently tripped from behind.
You could certainly see why referee David Ellis might have considered it a dive but equally, had the boot been on the other foot and it was Hassocks who went down to 10 in the same circumstances up the other end then there would no doubt have been fury among the visiting contingent.
The red card spurred the Robins back into life and they began to show the same sort of performance levels as they had in that opening 45 minutes.
Hassocks’ best route to goal looked like it would be from set pieces as they earned a flurry of corners but couldn’t quite make anything of them.
YM did have one chance to make the game safe but Jack Ryder’s low and hard shot was repelled by an excellent stop from Green.
One final corner with the last play of the game led to a desperate struggle in the box but YM managed to hold on for a victory which keeps them in second place behind Chichester City, who beat Langney Wanderers 2-0 to be crowned champions for the first time since 2004.
As for Hassocks, they now have two weeks off before taking on bottom club Shoreham at the Beacon. That should give Dalgleish a bit of time to get his front line players fit and available again ahead of their final three games of the season, with the chance of finishing top of the bottom half of the table still there for the taking.
Hassocks: Josh Green; Louie Derham, Harry Mills, Dan Jacques, Jordan Badger; Harvey Enticknap, Lewis Westlake, Dan Stokes; Harvey Blake, Jake Lindsey, Andy Whittingham.
Subs: James Oliver (used).
Starman: Jake Lindsey
