Robins run out of steam to suffer first Supplementary Shield defeat
Who wins Group B of the Southern Combination League Under 23 Supplementary Shield will go down to the final set of games with the winners of Horley Town v Hassocks guaranteed to progress to the semi finals of the competition.
The Clarets lost their penultimate fixture 1-0 away at St Francis Rangers 24 hours before Hassocks suffered a similar fate, going down 2-1 at Broadbridge Heath. With neither side able to take advantage of the others’ slip, it means that Horley remain a point ahead of the Robins going into next Wednesday’s clash at the New Defence.
This reversal at the High Wood Hill Sports Ground was Hassocks’ first loss in the Supplementary Shield. The Robins just appeared to run out of steam towards the end as two goals inside of nine second half minutes saw Heath pick up their second win in the competition.
Hassocks came into the game in an excellent mood. A week earlier, they had secured their most impressive win for a couple of seasons when beating Horsham YMCA 5-2 at Gorings Mead, a side who many might have been expecting to win the competition.
YM had been top of the North Division when the regular season was curtailed in both the current campaign and in 2019-20. The last time the Under 23 League was played to a finish in 2018-19 they were crowned champions, making them one of the outstanding development sides of the past few years.
They had no answer to the Robins though. In light of that result, Hassocks made only one change from the side who had beaten YM, the unavailable Joe Bull being replaced by Marshall Smith, scorer of the only goal when the Robins had seen off Mile Oak in their opening group game three weeks earlier.
The in-form Lewis Beebee gave Hassocks the lead with 35 minutes on the clock, following up on his brace from the YM victory. Beebee now has six goals since football resumed post-lockdown for the Under 23s and Under 18s.
Heath equalised through Ben Whiteley on 61 minutes, just four minutes after they had made a double substitution to introduce fresh legs. Nine minutes later and Cameron Watts hit what proved to be the winner, three minutes after the Bears had made another change as the new faces provided fresh impetus for the hosts to wrap up the victory.
Hassocks: Jayden Dunkley, Kobe Dersley, Luke Marshall, Thomas Jupp, Harvey Ransome, Sam Geard, Ben Hicks, Jay Hudson, Connor Bradley, Lewis Beebee, Marshall Smith.
Subs: Archie Russell, Brad Sweetman (used).
