Low quality goal decides low quality Easter Monday affair at Steyning
Easter Monday entertainment was in short supply at the Birchwood Ground where Steyning Town ran out 1-0 winners over Hassocks.
The match statistics showed just two shots on target all morning and even that would be generous seeing as the only goal from Dom Johnson-Fisher on 77 minutes was more of a hopeful cross than anything else.
Fortunately for the Barrowmen, the ball bounced right in front of James Shaw as he attempted to gather, skidded off the wet 3G surface and evaded the Hassocks goalkeeper on its way into the back of the net.
Such a low quality goal deciding the game was rather apt. Steyning also mustered the only other shot which arrived in injury time, substitute Joe Radley-Martin drawing a sprawling save from Shaw at the end of a counter attack.
Home goalkeeper Lucas Szendela-Goetzke did not have a single save to make. This was just as well from a Steyning point of view as Szendela-Goetzke was playing with an ankle injury which meant he was unable to kick.
The Robins only discovered this well past the hour mark when a rare foray forward resulted in left back Rob Clark taking the Barrowmen’s first goal kick of the day.
But even then, they were unable to test the true extent of the issue. Szendela-Goetzke will not keep an easier clean sheet in his life.
Hassocks were short on numbers again, as they had been when going down 1-0 at home to Crawley Down Gatwick 48 hours earlier.
James Westlake gave full debuts to youth team duo Sam Fernley and Alex Brewer down the flanks whilst Bradley Tighe answered a late call to play despite being on paternity leave.
In a sign of how thread threadbare the Robins squad is at the moment, Tighe was deployed as a central midfielder rather than the defensive berth he has permanently filled in his 170 game Hassocks career.
Tighe had the best chance either side mustered through the first half, escaping his marker to meet a Jack Troak corner with a header placed just wide of the post on 21 minutes.
Half chances came to Steyning after, Sam Smith blocking from Max Howell after a rare instance of more than three passes being put together and Westlake throwing himself at a Jack Langford shot.
Conditions certainly were not helping with driving rain and a swirling wind. So dark were the clouds that Steyning had their floodlights on, something no club should be forced to do on an April morning, let alone in a cost of living crisis.
Referee Tazlim Ali did his best to increase the entertainment level in the final five minutes of the first half.
Mr Ali first gave Robins physio Phil Wickwar a long talking too. Little did the official realise it was actually assistant head coach Tom Hughes who had berated him for missing a push on Liam Benson, much to the amusement of the Hassocks bench given there are few similarities between Hughes and Wickwar.
Then on the stroke of half time, Mr Ali awarded Steyning an indirect free kick in the Hassocks box after ruling Shaw had handled a pass back.
What actually happened is Troak had inadvertently put a long ball over the top past his advancing goalkeeper, forcing Shaw to run back towards his line and grab the ball before Langford could fire into the empty net.
Even the Steyning contingent were baffled at how it could be construed a deliberate pass back. Shaw decreed “I’ve never seen anything like it on my life” after being booked for booting the ball 70 yards down the pitch in frustration, sparking something of a melee.
When order was eventually restored, Pat Harding was the man in the Hassocks wall to block the set piece laid off by Jack Barnes to Langford.
The second half was equally slow to get going. Misha Djemaili hit one from distance which did not look far away from the sidelines but had Shaw very nonplussed.
Shaw then came racing from his like to win a header outside the box before chasing the loose ball down the pitch, ending up around 35 yards from his line and leathering a volley into a neighbouring garden. This delighted the crowd.
Steyning began to force the issue a little more in the final 15 minutes. Johnson-Fisher got away from Harvey Blake and crossed for Djemaili.
Troak produced an excellent block of the initial effort, followed by Alex Bygraves deflecting the rebound drilled by Barnes behind for a corner.
It was three minutes later that the Barrowmen took the lead, leaving Hassocks with a little less than a quarter hour to try and find an equaliser.
The only time they threatened was when a long Shaw kick was flicked on by Harding. Clark and Dayvarn Downer collided as both attempted to clear and with Szendela-Goetzke unable to advance quick enough to come and gather die to his ankle, the Robins had a half chance.
Nobody though had gambled on Harding winning the header or the Steyning defence getting in a mess and so the opportunity passed.
Hassocks: James Shaw; Harvey Blake, Sam Smith, Alex Bygraves, Jack Troak; Alex Brewer, Bradley Tighe, James Westlake, Sam Fernley; Pat Harding, Liam Benson.
Subs: Joe Bull (Brewer 71), Oliver Parker-Williams (Fernley 82), Sam Rogers, Will Broomfield, Alex Wintle (unused).
Bedlam Brewery Starman: Sam Smith.
