Troak ending an injury-hit campaign on fire winning the penultimate Player of the Month award
Hassocks enjoyed their best month of the 2021-22 season so far in March and central to that was Captain Jack Troak, a deserved winner of the Robins Player of the Month award.
Troak endured an injury hit 2021 in which he made only a handful of appearances from November onwards. That partly explains why Hassocks struggled so much in the early part of the campaign.
Since the turn of the year however, there has been no looking back. In March, he contributed five goals as the Robins won three, drew one and lost one of their five fixtures.
The month began with a disappointing team performance in a 1-0 defeat at Horsham YMCA. That was put right a week later when a professional showing against bottom of the table East Preston delivered a 5-2 win at a sunny Beacon.
Troak cancelled out the shock lead taken by EP when equalising after visiting goalkeeper Gentjan Poda was caught out by the Robins captain’s pace.
Poda hesitated on a backpass for a little too long, allowing Troak to dispossess him and roll into the empty net.
Parity did not last long as EP went back into the lead within a minute. Troak was the man who again hauled Hassocks level, beating Poda to glance in a Lewis Westlake corner.
Those two goals set the stage for the Robins to go on and win the game in the second half as Alfie Loversidge, Lewis Westlake and Joe Bull all joined Troak on the scoresheet.
Troak hit another brace three days later when Hassocks won 2-0 at Seaford Town, securing a spot in the semi finals of the Sussex Principal RUR Charity Cup semi final for the first time in a decade.
His first came from the penalty spot after a jinking Josh Short run past three or four Seaford players was ended illegally inside the area.
The second arrived with perfect timing on the stroke of half time. Lewis Westlake popped up in a wide position to deliver a cross which Troak ran across a couple of home defenders to poke home from close range.
Troak was involved in the only goal of the game at Pagham, where Hassocks won for the first time since 2012 via a 1-0 victory.
His run and cross down the left eventually fell for Short to fire home via a Sam Smith effort and a great save from Lions goalkeeper Lewis Broughton.
Troak’s final goal of March came in the 1-1 draw at Newhaven, another confidently despatched penalty which put a serious dent in the title hopes of the Dockers.
It was close for second place in the Player of the Month vote with James Westlake claiming only 1.5 percent more than Dan Turner.
Westlake senior has been in excellent form all season alongside his brother in midfield, consistently turning over possession and getting Hassocks on the front foot.
Turner meanwhile played a huge part in ensuring that the Robins conceded just once on the road from those visits to Pagham and Newhaven, two clubs who have been free scoring for most of the campaign as they chased top five finishes.
