Strong finish to the season secures 16th spot – whilst the Veterans picked up silverware
With Premier Division safety already assured by the start of April thanks to an excellent run of form in the second of the campaign, Hassocks could play for the final month of their 2021-22 season with the pressure off.
The result was seven points collected from a possible 12 leading up to the Robins’ first Sussex Principal RUR Charity Cup semi final appearance in a decade against a Littlehampton Town side chasing an historic quadruple.
It was also the Golds who provided the first opposition of April when visiting the Beacon in the bread and butter of the Premier Division.
Needing three points to continue their quest for the Southern Combination League title, the visitors got the job done easily as 6-2 winners over a below-par Hassocks.
Aaron Capon and Dion Jarvis put Littlehampton 2-0 ahead going into half time. Zack Harris made it three within three minutes of the second half with Sam Smith pulling one back for the Robins on the hour mark.
Any hopes that Smith bundling home after the Golds failed to clear a corner might spark a famous comeback were very quickly dashed when Lewis Jenkins made it four and Jordan Clark five in five minutes following Smith’s goal.
Harris added his second and Littlehampton’s sixth on 82. Hassocks won a penalty on 85 to complete the scoring although nobody from either side was entirely sure what it had been awarded for.
Not that the mystery bothered Jack Troak. The Hassocks captain duly stuck the chance away to ensure his side only lost by four.
Still, the day was not all bad news. Spencer Slaughter and his fiancée Megan used the afternoon to raise sponsorship for their running of the Brighton Marathon the following day.
Hassocks and Littlehampton fans combined donated a fantastic £340 for St Peter & St James’ Hospice, contributing towards a grand total of £1,142.
Slaughter ran alongside felloe Robin Josh Hawkes and ended with a personal best marathon time of 4:04:36 in his third completion of the distance. Megan meanwhile finished her first marathon in 5 hours 38 minutes.
Hassocks next faced two games in the space of 48 hours over the Easter Weekend which returned two points. The Saturday trip to Steyning Town was played out under glorious sunshine with both the goals in a 1-1 draw arriving in the first half.
A Dan Turner throw launched 50 yards down the pitch deep into Steyning territory led to Hassocks opening the scoring inside of seven minutes.
The Barrowmen passed the ball back to their surprised goalkeeper Stefanos Akras who held onto possession for a second too long, allowing Troak to tackle and roll into the empty net.
Akras atoned for that error with a series of excellent saves over the next 83 minutes, without which Hassocks would have made the short journey home with all three points.
Instead, they had to settle for one. Steyning scored with their first real effort on goal five minutes before half time, a left wing cross from Max Howell met by a flicked Josh Bradley header to give the in-form forward his fifth goal in five games.
Crawley Down Gatwick provided the opposition at the Beacon on Easter Monday. Hassocks again found themselves frustrated by an opposition goalkeeper as Alex Bellingham produced several important stops to earn a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw.
Bellingham made his best intervention with an extraordinary first half double save, showing great reactions to paw away a heavily deflected Josh Short effort and then recover to block James Westlake’s follow up.
Alex Harris in contrast did not have a meaningful save to make all morning. The Hassocks defence deserved a lot of credit doing such an effective job at nullifying the threat posed by Down’s strike force of Phil Johnson and Oli Leslie, who had found the back of the net more than 40 times between them across the campaign.
Hassocks ended their Premier Division season away at Alfold where a Lewis Westlake free kick earned a final three points, moving the Robins onto 38 for the season and securing 16th spot.
A young Alfold side were determined to keep the ball and pass it out from the back. Hassocks pressed at the right moments, frequently stealing possession in key areas and looking dangerous on the counter.
One such break led by Short was ended illegally just outside the Alfold box, front and centre of the goal. Westlake made the most of the opportunity, curling the free kick around the wall and into the back of the net for his sixth of the season.
That set the Robins up nicely for their big semi three days later. Most of the biggest crowd the Beacon had seen for many years would have been expecting a Littlehampton cakewalk, seeing as the Golds had scored 10 past Hassocks in their two Premier Division meetings and were flying high after being crowned champions at the weekend.
It did not pan out as expected however, even after Joe Benn gave Littlehampton the lead with a 12th minute penalty following George Gaskin being brought down in the box.
A 28th minute red card for one-time Hassocks midfielder Scott Kirkwood made the next hour a little more interesting, allowing the Robins to become a little more attacking playing against 10 men.
Littlehampton needed goalkeeper James Binfield to prevent Hassocks equalising just before half time. Some intricate link up play through the Westlake brothers and Troak created an opportunity for Joe Bull, whose fierce drive was acrobatically kept out by Binfield.
Without that save, the tie may have taken a different turn. Littlehampton capitalised on the excellence of their number one by doubling their lead three minutes after the restart.
Gaskin had been left completely free from a corner to head home, scoring Littlehampton’s 200th goal of the season. The Golds were content to sit back after that, conserving their energy for their upcoming FA Vase, Peter Bentley and RUR Cup finals.
Hassocks were able to threaten only once after falling 2-0 behind, Sam Smith volleying over the bar after good work by Short.
Littlehampton fans celebrated the full time whistle with fireworks and flares. Hassocks meanwhile could look back at a campaign of two halves, the second of which provided plenty of good football, a number of impressive results and a lot of promise for the next campaign through a young squad who improved markedly over the course of the year.
The Ladies picked up six points through April, pushing themselves to a sixth placed finish in the Sussex County Women’s League Premier Division.
A 2-0 defeat at champions Pagham kicked off the month, followed by an emphatic 8-0 win over Eastbourne Town. Top scorer Katherine Chappell bagged a hat-trick, there were braces for Jodie Johanson and Jess Craig and Liz King rounded things off.
Two weeks later and the Beacon played host to a double header against Seaford Town. Hassocks won the first game 2-1 through Craig and Claire Stevens. They then lost the second game by the same score, Chappell getting the consolation.
Seaford were also the opposition in the semi finals of the League Cup, held at the Beacon on the first weekend of May.
For the third time in a week, it finished 2-1 between the sides. Sadly for Hassocks, it was Seaford who advanced thanks to goals from Lucy Jellett and Nicola Latter. Mia Pordage scored for the Robins. The Badgers would go onto be beaten in the final by Montpelier Villa.
Having seen the first team, Under 23s and Ladies all fall at the semi final stage of knockout competitions, it was left to the Veterans to provide the Beacon trophy cabinet with a shiny new addition from the 2021-22 season.
A strong Sidley United outfit were beaten 4-1 in the quarter finals of the Fred Pretty Plate. Elliott Butler, Paul Armstrong, Dave Juniper and Rob Sayers scored to book a semi final meeting with Ardingly.
Hassocks gave arguably their best performance of the season under the Monday night Beacon lights to hammer the side who had finished second in Group B 7-1.
Phil Gault was the Robins’ hat-trick hero, joined on the scorers’ list by Chris Maynard, Steve Spies, Sayers and Bundy.
That took the Robins into the final, where they faced Seaford Town. A hugely entertaining game contained seven goals, Hassocks just about edging out the Badgers 4-3.
Gault grabbed two, Juniper one and Spies one to end the first season since 2017-18 in which Hassocks had run a vets team on a high.
