The final Player of the Month Award for the 2018-19 season went to a familiar name as the in-form Dan Jacques was voted Hassocks’ star performer for April.
Since the turn of the year, Jacques has been a one-man award collecting machine. He’s picked up six man-of-the-match awards in 2019 and this is his second Player of the Month following his success in winning the January vote ahead of Phil Johnson and Liam Benson.
This time, the enigmatic defender saw off the challenge of the equally popular Harvey Enticknap and Phil Johnson. Hassocks captain Johnson has completed the remarkable achievement of being voted in the top three every month this season – bar February when he was injured – without ever actually coming first.
That’s not been a problem for Jacques, who was in excellent form as the Robins rounded off their most successful campaign for five years.
He started three of Hassocks’ four games, playing in the unfortunate 2-1 defeat away at eventual runners up Horsham YMCA, the 5-0 home loss to Shoreham and the 4-0 defeat away at Peter Bentley League Cup runners up AFC Uckfield Town. It was in that last day defeat at the Oaks that Jacques picked up his final star man award of the campaign.
The winning share of the vote was 42% with Enticknap back in second on 24%. It was the young midfielders third consecutive finish in the top three having won March’s poll and finished second in February in what has proven to be a breakthrough season at the Beacon for the former Loxwood midfielder.
He’d begun the campaign in the Under 23 side before gaining a regular spot in Mark Dalgleish’s squad a few weeks into the season.
Since then, Enticknap hasn’t looked back and he missed only one game in April, sitting out the visit to AFC Uckfield Town.
Johnson may have failed to score in April in his quest to become the first Hassocks player to crack the 30-goal-a-season mark since Phil Gault, but he still gave string of superlative performances.
Sorely missed against his former club Horsham YMCA, he caused the Lancing defence real problems in the 2-2 draw at Culver Road as Hassocks battled back from 2-0 down to secure a point.
The frequency with which the Robins skipper has made the top three over the course of the campaign will make him one of the favourites to win big at the End of Season Awards evening. That takes place on Friday 24th May at the Beacon from 7pm and is free to all supporters, players and members.
