Hassocks showed their resilience and fighting spirit throughout September as three times the Robins came from 2-0 down to take something from games in a month in which they only lost once.
That sole defeat came on September 1st to K Sports in the first qualifying round of the FA Vase. Goals one minute before the end of the first half from James Alderman and two minutes before full time from Matt Gething gave the Southern Counties East Premier Division side a 2-0 victory in a game which was notable from a Hassocks point of view as Harvey Enticknap became the 300th player to represent the club in senior football.
Three days later and after 45 minutes of Division One outfit Bexhill United’s visit to the Beacon, it looked like the Robins were about to exit both the FA Vase and the Peter Bentley League Cup in the space of just over 72 hours.
The Pirates went into half time with a 2-0 lead thanks to Jamie Bunn and Wayne Giles but whatever Mark Dalgleish said at the break had the desired effect as James Littlejohn notched his first senior goal for the club alongside Dan Jacques and Phil Johnson to turn the tie on its head in the space of 20 minutes, giving Hassocks a 3-2 success.
They followed up on that with a 4-0 victory away at struggling Loxwood. Johnson captained the side in the absence of Jordan Badger and celebrated his first game with the armband with a brace to go with Spencer Slaughter and Liam Benson goals.
Hot on the heels of that clash at Plaistow Road came the journey to East Preston. Again, the Robins found themselves in a perilous position as they trailed 2-0 to Lucas Pattenden and Thomas Lyne goals entering the final 10 minutes, but again they dug deep to rescue a point.
Dan Stokes was the hero on this occasion. Stokes had only been introduced into proceedings in the second half after an injury to Will Broomfield and he showed Hassocks what they’d been missing by scoring a 25 yard dipping volley and then producing a deft touch to escape the attentions of Nathan Da Costa before hitting a peach of a shot back across goal that went in off the post.
Just to add the drama, in between those two Stokes goals EP had seen number one James Fernandes sent off for pole axing Littlejohn in the box with substitute goalkeeper Leesun Donaldson saving the resulting penalty from Benson with his first touch of the game.
No such drama was required when the Premier Division’s bottom club came to the Beacon four days later. Eastbourne United ended up well beaten 3-0 as Matt Berridge scored his first goal in Hassocks colours with Benson and Slaughter both continuing their rich veins of form by notching in the second half.
September ended with a first ever meeting with Langney Wanderers and it provided the Robins with their third comeback of the month. Wanderers were 2-0 up as early as the 20th minute through Lucas Mann and Gary Ingram with Johnson halving the deficit just before the half hour mark.
Hassocks left it late to score their equaliser, Slaughter hitting an exquisite free kick which Dan Hutchins in the Langney goal did brilliantly to keep out. Unfortunately for him though, Badger was on hand to head the loose ball home for 2-2.
Slaughter was a deserved winner of Player of the Month for being the driving force of those comeback results with Johnson and Littlejohn’s goal scoring contributions recognised as they finished second and third.
The Under 23s were in equally good form, winning three games out of three. Littlejohn scored twice in the final eight minutes to secure a 2-1 win away at Southwick and that was followed by a hugely impressive 2-0 win over reigning West Division champions Pagham via second half goals from Jake Lindsey and Littlejohn.
Their final game was a topsy-turvy affair away at Mile Oak which was eventually settled 4-2 in the Robins’ favour. Connor Bradley claimed a brace with Enticknap and Littlejohn also on target.
Brad Sweetman took charge of the Under 18s for the first time as they got the defence of their Under 18 Central Division title underway with five wins from five.
St Francis Rangers, Lancing, Upper Beeding, Broadbridge Heath and Steyning Town were all defeated with 22 goals plundered along the way. Chief among the scorers were Hassocks’ new look strike duo of Tristan Hayes and Yahya Azizi, who hit eight and six goals respectively.
The Ladies kicked off their campaign with a 4-2 FA Cup first qualifying round loss to Islington but that would be the last time that they tasted defeat for a very long time as Martin Lee’s side embarked on an extraordinary season which would end with a league and cup double and the tag of Invincibles.
Their first league game saw them hammer Steyning Town 8-1 with wins against Oakwood, Steyning again and Mole Valley. The two goals that Mole Valley managed as Hassocks won 4-2 in Surrey would turn out to be the last that passed Sarah Chappell in the league until the final day of the season some seven months later
