HASSOCKS DOWNED BY DOCKERS BUT POSITIVES TO BE HAD
There was good news and bad news at the Beacon as Newhaven ran out 3-2 winners to become the seventh team in succession to defeat Hassocks.
That’s the start of the bad news as the Robins are now approaching unwanted club-record territory. The most games they’ve ever lost in a row in senior football is nine, coming in the 2017-18 season. That was the year in which they only survived relegation due to ground grading.
The bad news doesn’t end with record losing streaks, either. The result also sunk Hassocks to second-bottom in the Premier Division table thanks to Pagham’s 3-1 win over Broadbridge Heath. Throw in a 5-2 success for East Preston away at Horsham YMCA and the Robins are six points adrift of safety.
Thankfully, there is plenty of time to turn the situation around. And Hassocks’ cause in that regard will be helped immeasurably by a familiar name returning to the score sheet after four months on the side lines – which is where the good news begins.
Phil Johnson’s 95th minute goal may not have meant much for this game, but in the long run it’s a pointed reminder of the quality that Hassocks will now be able to call upon as they attempt to haul themselves out of the mire.
Johnson scored 27 times last season, firing the Robins to 12th place. He assumed the captaincy and swept up the Players’ Player, Manager’s Player and Supporters’ Player of the Year awards.
Hassocks aren’t quite a one-man team, but they are a very different proposition when Johnson is fit and firing – Mark Dalgleish will now be hoping that Johnson stays that way until the end of the season.
Dalgleish was also able to give a debut to an intriguing new signing from the bench. Blagomir Mastagarkov is a six-foot-plus forward who has previously played in the top three divisions in his native Bulgaria.
He came through the youth system at top flight club Lokomotiv Plovdiv and he looked a decent prospect on the run out he got here after finally receiving international clearance earlier in the week.
Quite how his talents are going to translate into the ninth tier of English football remains to be seen, but it will certainly be interesting to watch – presuming of course that Hassocks can hold onto a player of Mastagarkov’s calibre should he be a success at this level.
One thing that the new addition does add though is height and a physical presence, a commodity sorely lacking in a side that is Hobbit-like in stature.
Only one player on show against the Dockers other than Mastagarkov measured in at over six feet and that was 17-year-old defender Luke Marshall, arguably Hassocks’ Man-of-the-Match against a dangerous Newhaven front line which included the talents of Lee Robinson.
Marshall and his fellow defenders Harry Mills, Harvey Blake and Jack Troak managed to keep Robinson and the visitors quiet in an entertaining first half which Newhaven shaded but the hosts weren’t without chances of their own.
Given that that it took AFC Uckfield Town just 30 seconds to go ahead in their 4-0 midweek win at the Beacon, Hassocks could be proud of their efforts in the opening 45 minutes against such quality opponents.
That didn’t quite manage to extend to the second half however. Only seven minutes had elapsed when the Dockers took the lead, Robbie Keith beating Charlie Pugh in the Hassocks goal with a fine header for 1-0.
One soon became two. Just four minutes after Keith’s opener and Hassocks found their goal breached once again, this time Lukas Jones splitting the defence with a fine pass to send Mo Diallo in one-on-one with Pugh. Diallo made no mistake with the finish.
At that point in time, the home support could have been forgiven for wondering if yet another hammering was on the cards.
It wasn’t. In fact, it was Hassocks who looked like they might sent up a nervy final five minutes for the visitors when Ben Bacon pulled one back with his eighth of the season with 84 on the clock.
Bacon had begun the game on the bench and it was a Newhaven substitute who helped wrap up the game for the Dockers, Jack Langford going down in the box under a challenge from Blake with a couple of minutes of normal time remaining.
Blake had already been booked, leaving referee Daniel D’Urso with no option but to show the Hassocks full back the first red card of his senior career.
Ian Robinson duly beat Pugh from the spot. Johnson then popped up with a late second for Hassocks, a goal that will hopefully point to brighter times ahead at the Beacon over the coming weeks and months.
Hassocks: Charlie Pugh; Harvey Blake, Luke Marshall, Harry Mills, Jack Troak; Alex Spinks, Harvey Enticknap; Jamie Hillwood, Dan Stokes, James Littlejohn; Liam Benson.
Subs: Blagomir Mastagarkov, Ben Bacon, Phil Johnson (used), Joe Bull, Ben O’Leary (unused).
