Goals galore as the Westlake Era got up and running
New head coach, new look squad, new era at the Beacon. Hassocks went into the 2022-23 season full of optimism following the appointment of James Westlake, although they could have been given a gentler start to the campaign than a trip to Peacehaven & Telscombe.
Only twice since 1997 had the Robins come away from the Window Workshop Sports Park with victory. And although Hassocks more than held their own against the Tye in the opening 20 minutes, by full time it was the hosts celebrating a comfortable 3-0 success.
Such was the scale of Westlake’s summer recruitment drive that nine new faces featured on the opening day; five in the starting XI and four more from the bench. This unfamiliarity between Hassocks players was in stark contrast to Peacehaven, who showed the worth of having a settled side.
Two goals in the final nine minutes of the first half from Max Hollobone and Callum Edwards had the Tye in control going into the break. Edwards added a third with 12 minutes remaining to complete a challenging opening afternoon.
Three days later and one of the most extraordinary games of the entire season took place at the Beacon. Newly promoted Midhurst & Easebourne were the visitors and stunned the home crowd by sauntering into a 3-0 lead inside of half hour.
Rob Tambling claimed a brace and Billy Connor added a third on the 30 minute mark. That sparked the Robins into life and new signing from Peacehaven, Alex Bygraves, marked his home debut with a towering header to pull one back.
That was on 33 minutes. On 38, Kieran Carter made it 4-1 to the Stags. The remaining seven minutes of the first half brought Hassocks goals from Jack Troak and Liam Benson, who re-joined the Robins in the summer from Saltdean United.
Nobody could quite believe what they had witnessed as the sides headed into the interval with Midhurst 4-3 ahead. Or as at least 100 different people said in the Clubhouse at half time, “It’s a pound a goal!”
Hassocks spent most of the second 45 minutes trying to find an equaliser to complete what would have been a quite incredible comeback. No more goals were forthcoming, however, and so Midhurst made the long journey home with three points.
Scoring goals had been one of the biggest problems for the Robins in the previous campaign’s relegation battle. The Midhurst game suggested that Westlake’s rebuild had addressed that problem, although the Robins did have to rely on a superb own goal to secure safe passage through the extra preliminary round of the FA Cup.
Fellow Southern Combination League Premier Division side Lingfield were the visitors to the Beacon. The tie was decided on 15 minutes when Conor Wilford miscued an attempted back pass to Harvey Mills, inadvertently sending the ball sailing over the head of his own goalkeeper from 30 yards.
Video footage of the own goal went viral, attracting over 750,000 views on Twitter. More importantly than bringing Hassocks national attention, Westlake had his first win as Robins boss and a preliminary qualifying round tie with Isthmian League South Central side Uxbridge was in the bag.
A trip to AFC Uckfield Town was up next, played in 35 degree heat. Hassocks did to the Oaks what Midhurst had done to them 11 days previously by making a blistering start, going 2-0 ahead with 12 minutes on the clock.
Mark Zydonik headed home a pinpoint Lewis Westlake corner for his first goal since signing from Broadbridge Heath. Benson doubled the advantage, taking on a clever early shot having decided not to dribble towards goal on the lumpy, bumpy surface.
James Pass pulled one back midway through the first half for Uckfield. The hosts thought they had snared a leveller late on when George Cook headed past Alex Harris, only for an eagle-eyed assistant referee to spot that Tyler Pearson’s cross had swung out of play on its way into the box.
Being denied their equaliser deflated the Oakmen. Hassocks were relatively untroubled from that point on as they picked up their first three points of the season thanks to a 2-1 success.
Another victory was bagged in midweek away at Alfold and again, it came from a fast start. Leon Turner and Benson had Hassocks 2-0 ahead within a quarter of an hour. Mark Zydonik then added a third in the final five minutes having just returned from a spell in the sin bin.
Spirts were high ahead of the visit of Uxbridge in the FA Cup, one of the favourites for promotion from the division above. Phil Johnson bagged his first goal since returning from Crawley Down Gatwick to give Hassocks a shock early lead.
Unfortunately, it was short lived. A cross-shot from David Sota defied Harris four minutes later to level the tie. Uxbridge upped their game in the second half and moved 2-1 ahead when no Hassocks player watched out that Jack Beadle was about to finish off a five-man passing move at the back post.
Hassocks had their visitors suitably worried to the point that Uxbridge began time wasting at every opportunity after that. The result was eight minutes of stoppage time, the third minute of which saw Hassocks caught on the counter as Juwon Akitunde finished the tie by making it 3-1 to Uxbridge.
Hassocks were rightly lauded for their efforts and they took that form into their final game of August, a Bank Holiday meeting with Roffey at the Beacon which resulted in a 7-0 win for the Robins.
Troak opened the scoring with a fourth minute penalty. The Hassocks faithful were treated to another own goal, followed by a quick-fire Johnson brace making it 4-0 at half time.
Roffey made a better fist of things after the break and managed to go until the 80th minute until conceding again. Bygraves headed home the fifth, Sam Smith added a sixth and the rout was completed by tall striker Jamie Wilkes scoring his first Hassocks goal.
The Under 23s played twice in August, winning both games to make the perfect start to a campaign which would end with the first Southern Combination League Under 23 North Division title in Hassocks history.
Danny Reid scored the only goal of the evening in a 1-0 win at Roffey. The Robins then followed up with a 6-0 victory over St Francis Rangers in the first Mid Sussex Derby of the campaign.
Sam Smith helped himself to a double and was joined on the scoresheet by Arthur Rawlingson, Dan Turner, Lewis Fairley and Sam Fernley.
