SUNDAY FUN DAY AS ROBINS TASTE SUCCESS IN THE VASE
Sunday, fun day. Never before had Hassocks played a game in senior football on the seventh day of the week, but after this FA Vase victory away at Meridian Valley Park they might be keen to repeat the experience.
The Robins hadn’t won a fixture in this competition since 2014 before this 2-0 victory in south east London, delivered thanks to second half goals from Jamie Hillwood and Jack Troak.
They’ll now face Horley Town in the second qualifying round at the Beacon with the chance to avenge their 2-0 Premier Division defeat at the New Defence on the opening day of the season.
This was Hassocks’ most comfortable afternoon of the campaign so far. They never really hit top gear against their hosts who play one level lower than the Robins in the Southern Counties East League Division One, and yet were still deserved winners.
Hassocks should have taken the lead inside of the first five minutes as chaos and confusion reigned in the Meridian box following a corner from the Robins.
The melee began when Will Broomfield flicked the delivery onto Harry Mills at the back post, who somehow contrived to defy the laws of physics by smashing the crossbar from a couple of yards out. The loose ball fell to Matt Berridge whose effort was quite clearly blocked on the line by a Meridian hand.
While most of the ground could see the offence, the referee was left unsighted by the plethora of white and red shirts between him and the line, although quite what the linesman on the far side was doing to miss it is anybody’s guess.
Hassocks dominated possession after that, no mean feat on a surface that was difficult in places but they failed to seriously test Ben Ashton in the home goal.
Josh Green meanwhile was having an equally quiet afternoon, fielding a couple of long shots and dealing confidently with a plethora of balls launched into his box.
Meridian came into the game more in the second half, but in a way that helped Hassocks as it allowed them to look to play on the counter where they can be so dangerous.
Part of their threat comes from the amount of pace there is among the ranks and it was the introduction of one such speed merchant in Hillwood from the bench that ultimately helped to win the game.
Hillwood replaced Harvey Entincknap and was instantly involved as the Robins took the lead with 67 minutes played. Ben Bacon’s battling for possession was rewarded when he dispossessed Martin Begg to slip in Hillwood.
It was tight as to whether the Hassocks forward was onside and the hosts certainly felt he wasn’t as their entire backline stopped to appeal for a linesman’s flag.
That flag wasn’t forthcoming though and Hillwood bore down on goal, beating Ashton despite the fact that the Meridian goalkeeper managed to get a hand to it.
Meridian had to force the issue after that as they committed more and more players forward, so Hassocks were able to exploit the space they were being gifted in behind a relatively cumbersome defence.
On 76 minutes, that yielded a second goal for the Robins although there was an element of fortune about it. Troak had embarked on a powerful run down the right, from where he tried to square back to Bacon who was free in the middle.
The cross was cut out by Jacob Skelly but unfortunately for the Meridian left back, his block resulted in the ball falling straight back to Troak who caught Ashton by surprise by managing to find a way to finish inside the near post.
Hassocks were now 15 minutes away from their first Vase win in five years but it still wasn’t a done deal as Meridian chucked the kitchen sink at their visitors.
On came Dan Stokes and Harvey Ransome, making his first team debut after being on the stars of last season’s Under 18s squad who finished runners up in the Southern Combination Youth League Central Division.
Those changes helped to take the sting out of the game somewhat and Hassocks saw proceedings out in professional style on a Sunday to remember.
Hassocks: Josh Green; Harvey Blake, Harry Mills, Arni Kublickas; Andy Whittingham; Will Broomfield, Matt Berridge; James Littlejohn, Harvey Enticknap, Jack Troak; Ben Bacon.
Subs: Jamie Hillwood, Dan Stokes, Harvey Ransome (used), Dan Jacques, Joe Bull (unused).
