Blockbuster Bull strike gives Hassocks another shot at Erith
We might only be three games into the 2023-24 football campaign, but Hassocks can probably give out their Goal of the Season award right now.
The Robins’ Emirates FA Cup Extra Preliminary Qualifying tie against Erith Town was 17 minutes old when Joe Bull picked up possession 38 yards out.
Nobody expected Bull to shoot, save for one lonely voice in the Maurice Boxall Stand which said “Shoot” too quietly to be convincing.
Bull’s first touch was perfect, setting himself inside and into space to unleash a frankly unbelievable strike into the very top corner.
The noise which greeted the goal said it all. There were no cheers of celebration reserved for Hassocks connections; instead the entire ground, home and away support, let out a combined “OOOOH.”
It was a strike good enough to win any game of football. Unfortunately for the Robins, it merely counted as an equaliser after Henry Arnold had opened the scoring seven minutes earlier.
No further goals meant it finished 1-1. The sides will now meet again on Tuesday night at Stanmore Stadium to decide who progresses to face either Burgess Hill Town or Sutton Common Rovers on August 19th in preliminary qualifying.
In terms of both weather and quality, this was very much a game of two halves. A richly entertaining first 45 minutes were played out under dark clouds and near-biblical rainfall.
The sun made an appearance after the break but the quality of football dropped off, so much so that a young supporter riding a unicycle around the perimeter path provided much of the interest. Non-league football at its finest.
Plenty of action was packed into the opening exchanges, mainly involving Liam Benson. The Hassocks striker had a shot blocked within 120 seconds of kick off before twice escaping the attentions of the Erith back line to latch onto through balls. Benson was off target with one and earned a corner with the other.
It was somewhat against the run of play when the Dockers took the lead with 10 minutes on the clock. Matt Gunn put in a heavy challenge on Ollie Milton, causing everyone in close attention to stop awaiting the award of a free kick.
Everyone except Arnold, that is. The Dockers forward chased down the loose ball which had spun into the Robins box, beat Fraser Trigwell to it and rounded the Hassocks goalkeeper before firing home.
James Dyer almost doubled the lead for Erith a few minutes later, skipping past two challenges before blasting narrowly over.
Next came Bull’s spectacular leveller. James Westlake collected a Bradley Tighe throw on the right and between the player head coach, Pat Harding and Jack Troak, possession was worked across the pitch to Bull at left back. You already know about the rest.
A little of the shine was taken off the equaliser four minutes later when Troak landed awkwardly after challenging for a header.
Following lengthy treatment from Hassocks physio Jay Patel, Troak walked from he field and was whisked off to hospital.
X-rays there revealed a fractured collarbone. Little wonder Troak kicked the downward guttering of the Clubhouse out of frustration as he swapped an afternoon at the Beacon for a visit to the Princess Royal.
Kyle Woolven took over from Troak and was almost involved in setting up a goal with his first touch, splitting the Erith defence with a pass into the path of the advancing Tighe on the right. Tighe flashed a low ball across the box which nobody in red could quite convert.
A bizarre incident saw Milton booked for hugging Trigwell after the Hassocks goalkeeper won a footrace to a through ball.
The same pair then faced off again. Not only did Trigwell do really well to claw the ball away from the Erith striker, but he also managed to get up, chase down and leather the loose ball out for a throw as it escaped his box.
Neither Trigwell nor opposite number Mackenzie Foley were particularly worked after the interval with it taking 24 minutes for the first chance of the second half to arrive. Dyer showed further nifty footwork to glide past two challenges, only to fire wide.
Hassocks introduced new signing Alex Fair from the bench along with Alex Brewer, ending the game with four strikers on the pitch.
No headway could be made in an attempt to avoid a midweek trip to Thameside however, and it was the Dockers who finished stronger.
Substitute Alfie Eldridge should have done better when dragging wide from six yards before Bull capped a starman performance with a brilliantly timed last ditch sliding tackle to nick the ball off Arnold just as he was about to pull the trigger.
Hassocks: Fraser Trigwell; Bradley Tighe, Matt Gunn, Alex Bygraves, Joe Bull; Tom Frankland, James Westlake, Jamie Wilkes, Jack Troak; Pat Harding, Liam Benson.
Subs: Kyle Woolven (Troak 21), Alex Fair (Frankland 72), Alex Brewer (Benson 81), Harvey Blake, Ben Bacon, Sam Geard, Sam Smith (unused).
Starman: Joe Bull.
