JOHN’S NEW-LOOK UNDER 23S GO DOWN TO NEW BOYS OAKWOOD
New-look Hassocks Under 23s welcomed newcomers Oakwood to the Beacon on the opening night of the Southern Combination West Division season.
And it was the Oakmen who marked the occasion with all three points as two goals from Josh Neathey delivered a 2-1 win.
It’s been a summer of transition for the Robins. Many of the squad that had finished runners in the league up for the past two seasons have moved on.
Some were no longer eligible due to their age while others have gone to have a crack at first team football in Division Two with St Francis Rangers. Manager Nigel Pearce also departed.
Dave John has taken over and looks set to rely on the core of the Under 18s squad who delivered a treble under his tutelage two seasons ago.
As a result, it will be a young side that Hassocks field this campaign. There is a definite step up in class from youth to development football, so it will be interesting to see how they progress over the course of the campaign.
Despite this defeat to an Oakwood side who were making their bow at Under 23 level, there were some promising signs for John and his charges going forward.
Five of Hassocks’ starting 11 were making their full debuts for the Under 23s with Matt Denyer, Jack Gardner, Joe Tatford and Dan Turner all having played their youth team football for the Robins.
The one exception was goalkeeper James Earl, an extremely exciting prospect who has joined from Eastbourne Borough, for whom he made a couple of first team appearances from the bench last season.
There were further debuts from the bench for Thomas Jupp and Connor Weir while John also called upon the experience of first team duo Joe Bull and Nick Pitcher.
Both have found opportunities limited so far, so this was a good chance to get minutes under their belts while for Pitcher, it was his first appearance in as Hassocks shirt since 2016 following a couple of seasons in the Mid Sussex League with Burgess Hill Albion.
Despite all of those new faces, it was a player who’s been banging in the goals consistently over the past two seasons who got the Robins off the mark as George Galbraith-Gibbons was the Hassocks scorer.
With James Littlejohn now firmly ensconced in the senior squad and Max Willcox one of those who’s moved to Colwell Road, much of the goalscoring burden looks set to fall on Galbraith-Gibbons shoulders this season.
The striker scored six times last year despite only starting three games. He will almost certainly be getting more minutes this time around and with a paucity of available strikers at the club currently, could yet fire himself into the first team shake up.
Galbraith-Gibbons’ goal arrived in the 74th minute, by which point Hassocks were 2-0 behind. Neathey has already scored three times this season for Oakwood’s front side in Division One and he showed his quality with goals in the 57th and 73rd minutes which secured the perfect start to life for his side.
Hassocks: James Earl, Matt Denyer, Dan Turner, Nick Pitcher, Joe Tatford, Solly Ross, Jack Gardner, Kieran Dimelow, Joe Russell, Joe Bull, George Galbraith-Gibbons.
Subs: Charlie Alderton, Connor Bradley, Thomas Jupp, Connor Weir (used).
