County Cup holders Oak eliminate Robins in seven goal thriller
Hassocks Veterans’ hopes of lifting a first ever Sussex Veterans Challenge Cup came to an end at the third round stage where they suffered a 4-3 defeat away at holders Mile Oak.
The Oak side of Tony Burnett have taken on almost mythical status in Sussex veterans football, consistently winning trophies galore.
They had lost only once in over a year, winning both the Mid Sussex Veterans League and this competition in 2020-21.
Hassocks knew that they would need to be at their best to stand a chance of progressing at Chalky Lane but they came up short in a seven-goal thriller that provided plenty of entertainment for those passing by.
A Sunday afternoon in Mile Oak proved to be more appealing than a Monday night at the Beacon and Hassocks were able to welcome back some of their big name players who had missed the 5-2 win over Furnace Green Rovers in the previous round.
Pat Harding decided that the best way to gear himself up for a busy period of festive football in the Isthmian League with Burgess Hill Town was by taking on Mile Oak and so he returned to the starting XI.
Brother Joel was also back and looking to continue his hot streak in front of goal having notched on his last outing against Woodingdean United.
Elliott Butler took time out from setting PBs running around the mean streets of Haywards Heath to make his second appearance of the season and Adam Waller completed the four changes.
Paul Armstrong missed out on a reunion with his former Brighton teammate Will Packham who turned out for Oak. Joining Armstrong as absentees were Simon Shivnarain and Richard Thompson whilst Jonathan Bundy dropped down to the bench.
Remarkably, Joel Harding did manage to score again to take his record to two goals from three Veterans outings have previously played 340 first team games without ever notching.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it is really starting to look like Dave John missed a real trick by not playing Joel up front during his long and distinguished senior career with the Robins.
Less surprising was the presence of Pat on the score sheet, proving that he can do it on a cold Sunday in December at Mile Oak as well as in front of hundreds of adoring fans at the More Than Tyres Stadium.
Hassocks’ other goal came from Dave Juniper. Three unfortunately proved to not be enough, thanks in part to a scintillating hat-trick from Mark Allwright.
Allwright had Oak 3-1 ahead before Hassocks launched a comeback, levelling the tie at 3-3, at which point it could have gone either way.
The deciding moment arrived late on, John Kilgarriff scoring from the penalty spot as Mile Oak just squeaked through.
And so the Robins are left to concentrate on their Mid Sussex Veterans League campaign, where they have a 100 percent record so far – partly on account of the fact that they have only played twice.
That does at least mean that there is plenty of Veterans football to come in 2022 with entertainment seemingly guaranteed at every turn.
Hassocks: Rob Sayers, Che Williams, Nick Newman, Ant Humphries, Mirch Broadstock, Adam Waller, Elliott Butler, Dave Juniper, Pat Harding, Steve Spies, Joel Harding.
Subs: Lee De La Rue Browne, Jonathan Bundy (used).
