LITTLEJOHN AND PITCHER HIT HAT-TRICKS AS HASSOCKS HAMMER LANGNEY
Whilst Premier League fans are charged £15 to watch their club on PPV, Hassocks home regulars are forking out 97p per goal so far this season.
There have been 35 scored in six matches so far at the Beacon in 2020-21 with the latest goal fest between the Robins and Langney Wanderers adding nine to that total.
Seven of them were scored by the hosts, the first time the Robins had hit a baker’s half dozen at the Beacon since August 2010 and a remarkable turnaround from seven days earlier when Hassocks had been hammered 8-0 by Horley Town.
That heavy defeat to the Clarets represents a minor blip in a 2020-21 campaign which so far is going swimmingly for the Robins. They sit seventh in the table with 18 points from 11 games, just two points shy of their entire 2019-20 total prior to the season being curtailed.
Central to the very obvious improvement has been the form of Charlie Pitcher and James Littlejohn, who are providing enough firepower to help Hassocks overcome even the most farcical of starts to matches, as was the case against Langney. Both forwards helped themselves to hat-tricks as the Robins recovered from going 1-0 down inside of 60 seconds.
Referee Adam Jones was an eager beaver and he kicked off proceedings at 2.57pm, just as a monsoon opened up over the ground. Perhaps the early start is what caught Hassocks cold as Dan Turner conceded a penalty straight from kick off which was despatched by Tim Bennett past Charlie Pugh.
Pitcher scored his first of the afternoon with 10 minutes on the clock to level things up, rounding off a well worked team move. Phil Gault started it, marking his first start since the opening day by releasing Littlejohn who sensibly squared to Pitcher to beat Alieu Secka in the Langney goal.
Littlejohn added the second himself on 20 with a brilliant individual effort, beating two Wanderers defenders after cutting in from the right and hitting a left footed curler into the top corner.
The monsoon which had doused the Beacon gave way after that to a driving wind which was very much in Langney’s favour as it blew towards Pugh’s goal at the Railway End.
Defending suddenly became very tough for Hassocks and they did well to restrict the visitors to just a couple of chances – especially as Will Broomfield was an early departure through injury with 17-year-old Luke Marshall taking his place alongside Turner at centre back.
Turner found himself involved again for Langney’s equaliser when he unfortunately deflected Joe Sumerbell’s effort past Pugh just past the half hour mark.
At that point, it felt like if Hassocks made it to the interval on level terms then they would be in an excellent position to go on and win the game with the wind in their favour.
The Robins weren’t willing to wait until the second half however and in first half stoppage time, Jack Troak laid off to Littlejohn who scored via a deflection and a post to make it 3-2.
Gault came close to adding a fourth within five minutes of the restart when Pitcher teed him up on the edge of the box, only for Secka to do well to tip the Robins’ record scorer’s effort over the bar.
Hassocks were largely dominant in the second 45 but that didn’t translate to the scoreboard until the final 12 minutes when the Robins notched four goals in a blistering finale which blew Langney away.
Central to it was substitute Jamie Wilkes, a summer signing from St Francis Rangers who was making his home debut after earning rave reviews for the Under 23s.
Wilkes, Pitcher and Littlejohn combined for the fourth on 78 with Pitcher’s deft flick setting up Littlejohn for a lovely finish to complete his hat-trick.
Two minutes later and Wilkes glided in to unselfishly square to Littlejohn and although Secka did well to get across goal and block Littlejohn’s initial effort, Pitcher collected the rebound and slammed home.
Andy Whittingham drew gasps all round when he marauded forward from left back, beat six men and found himself in one-on-one only to be denied what would surely been Hassocks’ Goal of the Season by a smart stop from Secka.
Hassocks would not be denied a sixth for long, Troak bringing up the half dozen in the 86th minute when he drilled a shot in at the near post before Pitcher completed his hat-trick in injury time
There did not seem to be much on when the Robins’ top scorer picked the ball up on the edge of the box with a gaggle of blue shirts blocking his way to goal.
Pitcher though has the ability to produce something of nothing and he duly did that, smashing the ball into the top corner with an astonishing amount of power and precision to round off the scoring on another enthralling afternoon at the Beacon.
Hassocks: Charlie Pugh; Jack Gardner, Will Broomfield, Dan Turner, Andy Whittingham; James Littlejohn, Harvey Enticknap, Bradley Bant, Jack Troak; Phil Gault, Charlie Pitcher.
Subs: Luke Marshall (Broomfield), Jamie Wilkes (Enticknap), Alfie Loversidge (Gault), George Galbraith-Gibbons, Lewis Beebee (unused).
