Robins elimination at Erith means no Mid Sussex Derby in FA Cup
There will be no Mid Sussex Derby between Hassocks and Burgess Hill Town in the Emirates FA Cup after the Robins were well beaten 4-0 in their Extra Preliminary Qualifying Round replay against Erith Town.
Having drawn 1-1 at the Beacon on Saturday, the Dockers showed why they finished fourth in the stronger Southern Counties East Premier last season with a domineering result at the Stanmore Stadium.
It earns Erith a trip to the More Than Tyres Stadium on Saturday 19th August after Dean Cox’s Hillians needed a replay of their own to overcome Sutton Common Rovers.
The Robins made two changes from the weekend for their visit to Thamesmead. Harvey Blake came in on the right wing for his first start of the season in place of Tom Frankland.
Former Shoreham and Lancing forward Alex Fair was handed his full debut in place of Jack Troak, who faces a spell on the sidelines after breaking his collarbone midway through the first half of Saturday’s clash.
Troak’s nasty injury came shortly after Joe Bull had scored an absolute rocket from 38 yards to level the tie for Hassocks.
You could sense the concern amongst the Erith players when Bull lined up a similar effort after only six minutes here, but this time around the end result was nowhere near as magical.
Dockers forward Ollie Milton had been off target with a long ranger of his own with two minutes played of what was a pretty even opening half hour.
There was certainly nothing to suggest during that period the margin of victory Erith were going to rack up via a blistering spell of three goals in 17 minutes before half time.
The ninth minute saw James Trueman and Henry Arnold link up down the left to sweep a low cross pulled back to the edge of the Hassocks box.
Arriving midfielder James Miles should have at least tested Fraser Trigwell, only to blast wastefully over the bar.
A towering Alex Bygraves header from a James Westlake free kick on the right forced Mackenzie Foley into a sprawling save.
Not only did the Erth number one do well to react, but he managed to hold the ball too which was vital with Liam Benson lurking.
Blake was not far away with a left footed effort after cutting in from the right flank on 24 minutes as Hassocks enjoyed a decent spell.
That was brought to a shuddering end when Erith took the lead after the Robins were poor in defending a long throw into the box.
Somehow, the ball was allowed to make its way to the back post where Miles was on hand to apply a close range finish.
Falling behind noticeably took the wind from Hassocks’ sails. They needed Trigwell to scramble away a deflected Joe Chalker effort which looked initially like it was going to deceive the Robins goalkeeper and end up in the back of the net.
Wirth Erith on top, the Robins badly needed half time for the opportunity to regroup. Had Hassocks made it to the break without conceding again, they might have found a way back into the tie in the second half.
Instead, Erith added goals in the 38th and 45th minutes to effectively end the game as a contest. Home captain Jack Holland doubled the advantage with a fine effort, striding forward from right back and convincingly lashing past Trigwell from distance to send the home support into raptures.
There was further joy on the stroke of half time. A game of pinball broke out in the Hassocks box eventually ended by a Robins defender scrambling away at the expense of a corner.
Over came the resulting delivery for Tom Ash to power a header beyond Trigwell which sent Erith into the interval three goals to the good.
Trigwell was forced into another important intervention within a few minutes of the restart. The excellent Arnold collected a pass on the penalty spot, turned on a sixpence and hit a snapshot which Trigwell somehow kept out from close range.
Hassocks threw on Under 23s midfielder Sam Geard for a rare first team opportunity whilst there was also a debut from the bench for Three Bridges loanee Josh Mundy.
Between those two substitutions came Erith’s fourth. Milton slalomed his way through the Robins defence like a Winter Olympics skier before slotting beyond Trigwell and into the bottom corner for the best goal of the evening.
Hassocks: Fraser Trigwell; Bradley Tighe, Matt Gunn, Alex Bygraves, Joe Bull; Harvey Blake, James Westlake, Jamie Wilkes, Alex Fair; Pat Harding, Liam Benson.
Subs: Sam Geard (Fair 50), Josh Mundy (Westlake (59), Kyle Woolven (Harding 64), Tom Frankland (unused).
