Hassocks spot on for second week running to make more cup progress
Hassocks Under 18s are becoming rather fond of a penalty shootout win. For the second game running, they progressed to the next stage of a knockout competition from 12 yards following a 2-2 draw.
Two weeks ago, it was local rivals St Francis Rangers who had been eliminated from the Sussex Bluefin Dennis Probee Youth Cup second round at the Beacon.
Goals from Alex Wintle and Oliver Goswamy sent the tie to spot kicks, where the Robins scored four compared to Rangers’ two.
That set up a third round meeting with Worthing United which takes place at the Beacon next Sunday. The Mavericks pulled off one of the shocks of County Cup so far by beating Burgess Hill Town.
On this occasion, the competition was the Southern Combination Under 18 League Cup and the opponents were West Division side Selsey.
And once again, the shootout finished 4-2 to Hassocks. Success at the Seal Bay Resort Stadium gives the Robins a third round tie away at Eastbourne United of the East Division.
Selsey sit in mid table of the West Division and Hassocks were not sure what to make of their opponents, other than knowing it was going to be a very long trip for a Sunday morning.
Needless to say, those players who made themselves available were all looking forward to getting up at the crack of dawn – especially those who had been in the pub the night before – and they arrived down in Selsey in good spirits.
The Robins were forced into four changes from the team who had beaten Rangers, including being without both goal getters from a fortnight earlier.
Goswamy and Wintle were missing, as was top goal scorer Alex Brewer. Cam Mitchell was the fourth player absent.
The lack of bodies opened up the opportunity for Hassocks to give debuts to two new faces. Max Ward and Matt Mongardini were handed their first starts for the Robins, the latter having spent the entire campaign so far out injured.
Also returning were Sam Dean and Will Varley. With nine goals from nine appearances coming into the Selsey game, Varley’s presence did at least make up for the absence of 14-goal Brewer.
Varley maintained his goal-per-game ratio by striking against the Blues. He was joined on the scoresheet by George Gladding, netting his second of the campaign.
Selsey’s first arrived with 26 minutes on the clock from Ronnie Marwood. Their second came very late in the day, substitute Zane Williams beating Jack Thomas with just two minutes of normal time remaining to send the game to penalties.
Often, it is the team who scores so close to the final whistle who go onto win on penalties with the momentum firmly behind them.
Not so here. Hassocks deserve a huge amount of credit for the way they kept their heads up and remained calm going into the shootout to book their trip to the Oval in the next round.
Hassocks: Jack Thomas, Ben Foster, George Gladding, Ed Tobias, Sam Fernley, Max Ward, Matt Mongardini, Toby Munt, Sam Dean, Harry Goatcher, Will Varley.
Subs: Ewan Edwards (used).
