Robins secure top 10 finish in some style by thrashing Town
Hassocks secured their first top 10 finish for nine years in some style, hammering Eastbourne Town 4-1 at the Beacon on the final day of the Southern Combination Premier Division season.
Victory also secured a first league double over Town since 2005-06, the latest in a series of hoodoos James Westlake and his players have ended over the campaign.
Hassocks fans with long memories may recall that the previous double against Town was similarly secured via three points on the final day under the Mid Sussex sunshine.
17 years may have passed, but the identity of one of the Robins goal getters remains the same. Super Pat Harding scored twice then alongside Graham Beveridge, Anthony Hibbert and Sam Fisk.
This time around, Harding gave the Robins a first half lead. Jack Troak doubled it 10 minutes after the break before a somewhat unexpected grandstand finish.
Three goals came in stoppage time as Leon Turner and Alex Brewer – who was only a year old when Harding scored that brace against Town in 2006 – found the net either side of a Callum Barlow consolation for the visitors.
Both sides set their stalls out to attack from the opening whistle. That made for an engaging contest, although it was assistant referees Alex Howard and Paul Rowe who were the busiest people on show in the first 15 minutes.
Liam Benson beat Chris Winterton only for the offside flag to go up. Fletcher Holman then slotted past James Shaw, but he suffered the same fate.
Benson drew a good save from Winterton just after his disallowed goal as part of a strong start from Hassocks.
Once Town had weathered the storm, they grew into the game. Leon Greig made Shaw work before Holman’s offside effort and those two Town players combined again on the 20 minute mark.
Holman had a shot well repelled by Shaw and Greig could not quite force the rebound home thanks to some attentive defending from ex-Town man Sam Smith.
Two minutes later and Harding struck his second in as many games. The goal took the sting out of proceedings and the remaining 25 minutes of the first half were played in what can only be described as an end-of-season lull.
The Robins came out after the break with a bit more life about them, forcing a couple of early set pieces. It was from one of those that the second Hassocks goal arrived.
Winterton produced a sprawling save from Joe Bull, the subsequent corner was only not cleared effectively by Town and that gave Troak the chance to hit a rocket from distance for his eighth of the season.
With nothing to lose and only half hour of the campaign remaining, Town chucked on three strikers in an attempt to salvage something from the game.
Rather than opening the game up as you might expect, this gung-ho approach bizarrely resulted in a similar period of tedium as the first half suffered from.
Greig crossed for Holman to fire over. Town then had half-hearted penalty appeals waved away when Oliver Davies went down in the box after a collision with Troak.
Otherwise, there was precious little to report until injury time, when proceedings suddenly fired back to life as three substitutes got on the scoresheet in the space of a surreal 180 seconds.
The clock showed 90 when Anesu Sisaymia picked up a booking for a foul on Josh Bradley. Hassocks worked a clever free kick but it looked like the danger had passed when Town regained possession, only for Jack Murphy to give the ball away cheaply.
That allowed the Robins to work the ball to the unmarked Turner and he duly fired into the top right corner to put Hassocks 3-0 ahead.
Town produced the ideal response, substitute Barlow displaying perfect control and a cool head to chip over Shaw after the visitors gained dispossessed Hassocks straight from the restart.
Any Town celebrations were very short lived as almost immediately, Brewer added a fourth for the Robins.
It was his first senior goal to go with the 21 in 20 appearances he has plundered for the Under 18s, who enjoyed an excellent campaign in reaching the semi finals of two cup competitions whilst looking set to finish third in the league.
Again, Town’s marking was questionable and that presented Brewer with the opportunity to head beyond Winterton to wrap up a memorable campaign which gives Hassocks plenty to build on.
Hassocks: James Shaw; Harvey Blake, Sam Smith, Alex Bygraves, Jack Troak; Alfie Loversidge, Mike Williamson, James Westlake, Joe Bull; Pat Harding, Liam Benson.
Subs: Leon Turner (Bull 64), Josh Bradley (Loversidge 69), Alex Brewer (Harding 76), Jamie Wilkes (Williamson 90), Sam Rogers (Westlake 90).
Bedlam Brewery Starman: Jack Troak.
