Five goal Boxing Day thriller goes the way of high flying Barrowmen in final minute
Boxing Day at the Beacon was a tale of two halves as the most improved sides in the Southern Combination Premier Division this season played out a five goal thriller.
Hassocks and Steyning Town finished the previous campaign perilously close to the relegation zone in 16th and 17th place respectively but both have eyes firmly fixed on a top half finish this time around.
The Barrowmen might even consider themselves as dark horses for a championship tilt. They made the short trip to Mid Sussex sitting pretty in fourth spot and having won their previous two matches 4-1 against title chasing duo Broadbridge Heath and Newhaven.
Not that Hassocks made paid too much attention to those impressive results in the opening 45 minutes.
The Robins sauntered into a 2-0 half time lead through Liam Benson and Harvey Blake in front of a crowd of more than 300, the biggest the Robins have pulled in for a league game in over 15 years.
Steyning though showed just why they occupy such a lofty position in the standings, completing an impressive comeback in the last minute to win 3-2 shortly after Hassocks goalkeeper Joe Southam had been forced off injured.
It did not take long for the drama to begin as the Robins took the lead in the opening minute. Barrowmen defender Charlie Robinson was slack in attempting to play out from the back, gifting the ball to Benson who made no mistake with a low left footed effort to notch past one of his former clubs.
Steyning were surprised and Hassocks nearly had a second just three minutes later. Bradley Tighe’s big switch from the left was volleyed into the box towards Pat Harding by Blake.
Harding showed excellent close control to turn on a sixpence, only to see his shot blocked by the legs of Lucas Szendela-Goetzke in the Steyning goal at the expense of a corner.
Hassocks welcomed back Leon Turner from several months on the sidelines and he was a typical livewire down the right, none more so than when creating a good opportunity for Harding on the half hour.
Joe Bull released Turner down the flank and his low pull back fell to Harding via a deflection to hit a shot which clipped the outside of the post.
The Robins doubled their advantage six minutes before the break. Blake intercepted a pass some 35 yards out and embarked on one of his trademark powerful runs, making it all the way to the edge of the Steyning box from where he slipped the ball through to Benson.
Now in one-on-one, Benson attempted to go around Szendela-Goetzke with the Barrowmen goalkeeper doing well to push the ball away from the feet of Benson.
The danger was far from over, however. Blake had continued his run and beat both Szendela-Goetzke and Robinson to the loose ball which he fired first time into the back of the net.
Steyning were forced into a change with two minutes of the first half remaining, Rob Clarke being replaced by top scorer Jack Langford.
Two further substitutions were made at the break by Barrowmen boss Kevin Green. Kevin Chalmers and Jonny Ruiz also entered the fray. The gamble paid off as Chalmers and Langford had the game levelled just past the hour mark.
Chalmers was first on the scoresheet on 52 minutes, taking advantage of a mix up between Bull and Tighe to run through and beat Southam.
Langford struck on 61, collecting a knock from Max Howell and beating the unsighted Southam at his neat post via a low shot expertly placed between Bull, Tighe and Mike Williamson.
Both sides went in the hunt for a winner in the final half hour. Dom Johnson-Fisher twisted and turned his way past Alex Bygraves and Blake, only to be denied by an extraordinary reaction save by Southam low down to his left.
Langford lashed wide and Blake blocked from Johnson-Fisher. Blake then popped up at the other end, doing superbly to keep the ball in play on the by-line and finding substitute Sam Rogers whose shot deflected off Ryan Hallet and into the arms of the grateful Szendela-Goetzke.
There were four minutes of normal time to play when Southam had to be withdrawn after falling awkwardly to the ground when challenging Cal Chalmers for a high ball.
Defender Will Broomfield took over in goal after lengthy treatment to Southam, resulting in a significant amount of injury time.
Understandably given the circumstances, Hassocks were now hanging on for a point. Broomfield produced a fingertip save to get a Johnson-Fisher shot over the bar from a tight angle.
The resulting corner proved to be the Robins’ downfall. Jack Barnes’ delivery caught Bull on the near post and beat the despairing dive of Broomfield to give Steyning a 94th minute winner.
Hassocks: Joe Southam; Harvey Blake, Bradley Tighe, Alex Bygraves, Joe Bull; Leon Turner, Mike Williamson, Jamie Wilkes, Jack Troak; Pat Harding, Liam Benson.
Subs: Tom Frankland (Turner 60), Sam Rogers (Wilkes 67), Phil Johnson (Harding 70), Will Broomfield (Southam 86), JJ Minty (unused).
Bedlam Brewery Starman: Liam Benson.
