Hassocks secure highest league finish since 2014 in final month of the league campaign
It was mission accomplished for Hassocks in April as their first season under James Westlake ended with the Robins securing a first top 10 Southern Combination League Premier Division finish in nine years.
Hassocks faced a tough month with only one fixture against a side below them in the table. A trip to Bexhill United kicked off April and it looked like the Robins were going to return from their longest journey of the season with a point right up until the 90th minute.
A scuffed corner to the front post was flicked on by Evan Archibald and Joe Summerbell was able to bundle home from four yards out to give the Pirates a 2-1 victory.
Such a scrappy goal summed up a game low on quality. Hassocks had taken a 48th minute lead after a Joe Bull shot from outside the box was heavily deflected beyond Bexhill goalkeeper Alex Zamani.
The Pirates equalised 15 minutes later when Hassocks failed to deal with a free kick sent 70 yards down the pitch by Zamani, leaving veteran forward Archibald to coolly lob the ball over the advancing James Shaw.
Title chasing Crawley Down Gatwick were the visitors to the Beacon a week later at the start of an Easter weekend through which Hassocks had to cope without some of their regular players.
That meant a rare start for Sam Geard from the Under 23s and Under 18s players Sam Fernley and Oliver Parker-Williams getting run outs from the bench against the Anvils.
Hassocks missed a number of good opportunities whereas Down scored from one of their only shots on target all afternoon to come away with a 1-0 victory.
It was another goal conceded from a set piece, the towering figure of Guy Harding heading a corner down which Oli Leslie steered home before either Shaw or Jack Troak could reach the loose ball.
Easter Monday morning saw the Robins make the short hop to Steyning Town, where numbers were even thinner.
Fernley and Under 18s top scorer Alex Brewer made their full senior debuts whilst Bradley Tighe was deployed in midfield for the first time in his life after answering the call to come back from paternity leave.
A drab 90 minutes was settled towards the end when a Dom Johnson-Fisher shot from distance skidded off the wet 3G surface of the Shooting Field to defy Shaw and nestle in the bottom corner.
Hassocks got back to winning ways against Lingfield. With Godstone Road unable to host, the match was switched to the Beacon, where Liam Benson put the Robins ahead on the quarter hour mark.
A terrible foul from a Lingers defender caused the 21 players on the pitch other than Benson to stop awaiting the referee’s whistle. Benson though continued and fired home a poacher’s finish which stood.
Pat Harding made it 2-0 before the break, finishing off a superb passing move which swept from one end to the other having been started by a short goal from Shaw.
Lingfield pulled one back on 56 minutes via a Conor Wilford penalty and when Mike Williamson was sin binned in the aftermath, Hassocks had to navigate what looked like being a tricky 10 minutes with only 10 men.
Not that it playing shorthanded bothered the Robins. Instead, they added their third whilst Williamson watched on from the bench to wrap up a 3-1 victory. Troak delivered a beautiful ball into the box and Benson was on hand to head home.
Hassocks now knew that victory in their final match of the Premier Division season would guarantee 10th spot and a top half finish. It would also secure a first league double over visitors Eastbourne Town since the 2005-06 season.
The Robins duly got the job done and in some style, too, winning 4-1. Harding struck on 22 minutes and Troak on 55 with the final three goals of the game coming in a frantic period of injury time after the 90 minutes.
Leon Turner made it 3-0 to Hassocks on 90, Callum Barlow netted a consolation for Town on 92 and Brewer got his first senior goal on 93 as the league campaign ended with plenty of drama.
The Under 23s were crowned North Division champions for the first time in Hassocks history, although it was not the way Neil Parker and his players wanted to get the job done as they took the title without kicking a ball.
April started with a 4-1 win at home to Oakwood thanks to goals from Phil Gault, Tom Frankland, Luke Marshall and Jay Hudson.
When Loxwood then informed the league they would not be completing their fixtures, Hassocks were awarded three points for their still-to-be-played clash with the Magpies. That confirmed the Robins as champions with two matches still to be played in May.
In contrast to the Under 23s completing just one game in April, the Under 18s rattled through seven. Two goals from Will Varley and one from Fernley sent Hassocks into the semi finals of the League Cup via a 3-0 quarter final victory at Seaford Town.
The Robins then beat Saltdean United 6-0 and Steyning Town 4-1 before their big semi away at Newhaven.
Hassocks had eliminated the Dockers in the last eight of the Sussex Bluefin Dennis Probee Youth Cup back in February but it was the hosts who came out on top this time, winning a ridiculously entertaining tie 6-3. Parker-Williams scored twice and Brewer once at the Trafalgar Ground.
The Robins’ next aim was to finish third in the Central Division in their remaining three league fixtures. A Brewer brace was not enough to inflict a first defeat of the season on champions St Francis Rangers
But 3-0 and 4-2 victories over Saltdean at Hill Park and Shoreham at the Beacon respectively ensured Hassocks were best of the rest after Rangers and runners up Burgess Hill Town.
The Ladies faced just one game in April when Saltdean visited the Beacon. The Tigers had eliminated Hassocks from the League Cup earlier in the campaign and so the Robins knew they would be in for a tough test.
A 1-1 draw therefore proved a very useful point in their quest for the Sussex County Women’s Premier Division title. Emily Spooner got the goal, her first in Hassocks colours after moving from Burgess Hill Town.
