With their Southern Combination League Premier Division status already secured, Hassocks took their feet off the gas slightly in what turned out to be a winless final month of the season.
April kicked off with a tough trip to promotion chasing Horsham YMCA. Gorings Meed has never been the happiest of hunting grounds for the Robins and so it proved once again as the hosts came from behind to triumph 2-1 in a tight contest.
Mark Dalgeish was without Phil Johnson, Will Broomfield, James Littlejohn, Liam Benson, Bradley Tighe, Spencer Slaughter and George Brown, leaving the Hassocks boss with a threadbare squad.
As a result, he gave a debut to Under 23 regular Louie Derham at right back whilst James Oliver made his first appearance since 2016 from the substitutes bench.
Not that you’d have known how short Hassocks were given the start they made. Jake Lindsey was charged with leading the line in the absence of Johnson, Littlejohn and Benson and it took him just five minutes to put the Robins ahead.
They were much the better side for the rest of the first half but whatever YM boss Peter Buckland said at the break 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, Jack Hartley finishing clinically and eight minutes later Alex 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.
The final first team home game of the season saw Shoreham visit the Beacon in what turned out to be an afternoon to forget for Hassocks as they were hammed 5-0 by opponents who started the day bottom of the table, without a win since the start of January.
In former Stoke City youngster Mohamed Diallo, the Musselmen had the best player on the pitch by some distance and it was 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.
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.
Less than 48 hours later and Hassocks were in action again, this time making the Easter Monday trip to Culver Road to take on Lancing.
They gave a much better account of themselves as well, coming from two goals behind to take something from a game for the sixth time in the season.
Lancing had taken the lead three minutes before the break when the lively Matt Daniel tapped home from close range after Daniel Momah had done well to pull the ball back after making it to the byline and they doubled their advantage three minutes after the break when Mike Williamson won possession in the middle of the park and played a perfect pass to send Momah away to finish coolly past Green.
Broomfield pulled one back with a real goal of the season contender with an extraordinary distance effort on the hour mark before Stokes struck in the last seconds to secure a share of the spoils, his curling cross from out on the left dropping over the head of Evans and just under the crossbar to spark jubilant scenes of celebration among the visiting players and supporters.
That turned out to be the last thing that they’d have to celebrate in the 2018-19 season, the Robins final game coming five days later away at AFC Uckfield Town and ending in a meek 4-0 defeat to the Oakmen.
There was nothing meek about the way that the Ladies finished their campaign off as they were crowed South East Counties Women’s League Division One champions.
A 6-0 victory at home to Bexhill United confirmed the title with two games still left to play and the Robins managed to negotiate both of those fixtures with local rivals Burgess Hill Town, winning 4-0 and drawing 1-1 to ensure that they went the entire league campaign unbeaten.
That was a remarkable feat for Martin Lee’s side, who only conceded three league goals all season and also lifted the Sussex Women’s Trophy for the first time in the club’s history back in March.
There wasn’t such a memorable finish for the Under 23s who ran out of steam in their attempts to lift a double of their own.
A 3-1 League Cup semi final defeat to East Preston put paid to their hopes of one trophy while their chances of winning the West Division title went with a 4-0 defeat away at Arundel and a 2-1 defeat at eventual champions Horsham YMCA. James Littlejohn was in target in both those games.
Finally, the Under 18s hammered Southwick 4-1 in their final league fixture thanks to a brace from Luke Marshall and goals from Finley McDermott and Alfie Loveridge.
That result meant that the Robins were in the strange position of having finished level on points with both Steyning Town and Upper Beeding in the battle for the runners up spot behind Haywards Heath Town.
With the Under 18’s league not being decided on goal difference, that meant a play off between those three teams to decide who finished second was to come in May.
