Combined Counties Salts inflict first defeat of pre-season on Robins
Just 48 hours had elapsed since Hassocks were victorious at Billingshurst and the Robins found themselves back in action against Epsom & Ewell.
This was the second consecutive pre-season meeting between the Robins and the Salts, Epsom having been victorious last year via a 1-0 win secured by a goal only 18 seconds in.
The Salts were an impressive outfit at the Beacon that day with many watching predicting they would go onto have a very good year in Division One of the Southern Combination League.
And so it proved; Epsom won promotion via the playoffs, beating Selsey in the semi finals and Wick in the final having finished runners up to Shoreham in the regular season.
But rather than take their place in the Premier Division alongside Hassocks, the Salts were moved sideways back to the Combined Counties League by the FA.
The Robins were therefore playing opponents from step five and knew they had to be at the races if they were to come away with victory against Epsom.
A tight 90 minutes went the way of the Salts in the end, who ran out 2-1 victors on the new 3G surface at South Park FC’s King George’s Field. It must be said the pitch was excellent, good to soft in places.
Even though it was a sunny midsummer evening, South Park opted to have their floodlights on from the start. Cost of living crisis? What cost of living crisis, they say in Reigate.
Both sides enjoyed an equal share of possession through the first 15 20 minutes before A Trialist opened the scoring for Epsom, playing a one-two with his brother confusingly also named A Trialist before finishing.
It remained 1-0 until two minutes into the second half. Hassocks came out with the bit between their teeth and it was not long before an equaliser arrived.
The Robins were awarded a free kick about 1/10th of a furlong away from goal out on the right. Over it came and when the ball bounced off the chest of Epsom goalkeeper Harvey Keogh, Alex Bygraves was on hand to pass the loose ball into the now-empty goal.
On the subject of Bygraves, the summer has seen him grow a lovely head of hair.
A flurry of substitutions followed which impacted the flow of the game, although it was still evenly matched with both teams going a good gallop.
Epsom scored what proved to be the winner in the 67th minute. A follow on the edge of the box gave the Salts in a dangerous position.
Hassocks lined up a wall of four but this did not prove to be too much of a hurdle for Thompson Adeyemin, who bent an effort around the wall and into the bottom right had corner.
The Robins best chance of an equaliser came with 10 minutes remaining when the bar was rattled and the ball bounced down onto the goal line.
Had it crossed the line? It was difficult to tell and will therefore remain as much as mystery as what happened to Shergar.
Epsom made the most of the reprieve, scrambling the ball clear before Hassocks could react as the Salts held on to win by a neck.
