Benson bags eight minute hat-trick to send Hassocks top of the table
Few records exist about the fastest hat-trick in Hassocks history. But it is fair to assume that the eight minute treble plundered by Liam Benson as the Robins beat Midhurst & Easebourne 3-1 at the Beacon is up there with the quickest.
Benson struck in the eighth, 13th and 16th minutes to end this game as a contest before it had even begun and take Hassocks to the top of the Southern Combination Premier Division table.
For the Robins, it was sweet revenge for the 5-0 hammering they had suffered last time they faced Midhurst back in December at the Rotherfield.
The Stags meanwhile will no doubt be glad to see the back of Mid Sussex having been beaten 8-0 by Haywards Heath Town at Hanbury Park 11 days earlier.
Pat Harding was the architect of the opening goal. He collected a Tom Frankland pass on halfway and chipped a beautiful left footed ball on the angle between two Midhurst players in a defence playing a suspiciously high line.
That enabled Benson to scamper clear with around 35 yards of open space between him and Stags goalkeeper Ricardo Mendonca, whom he beat with a right footed effort drilled clinically into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Benson added his second five minutes later. Between those two goals, there was still time for Alex Fair to go close to doubling the lead.
A game of head tennis broke out in the middle of the park involving Benson and tall striker Jamie Wilkes.
The rangy Wilkes eventually nodded cleverly over the top of the Midhurst defence, who had not learnt the lessons of the first goal and were still a long way up the pitch.
Fair latched onto the ball and made his merry way into the box, where one of his famous Cruyff turns created the space needed to test Mendonca with a curling effort well held by the Stags number one.
No prizes for guessing how goal number two came about. Again the Midhurst defence pushed up and again they were outdone by a perfectly timed run and the pace of Benson.
Fraser Trigwell rolled to Matt Gunn, who advanced 20 yards with the ball at his feet before clipping a pass over the top.
Benson did have to work harder for this one, James Lidiard managing to almost catch up with the Hassocks hat-trick hero.
Lidiard though was unable to put in a convincing tackle as he tracked Benson from behind for fear of giving away a penalty.
Benson duly shrugged the attentions of Lidiard off and although at one point it looked like he had overrun the ball, he managed to slide in and fire beyond the advancing Mendonca.
Three minutes later and Benson completed his hat-trick. Harding won a header in the Hassocks half and Fair volleyed the loose ball forward.
Lidiard at least appeared to have learnt some lessons from the earlier two goals as he was now sitting deeper, between Benson and the Midhurst goal.
Not that it made much difference. Benson outpaced the Stags centre back and fired beyond Mendonca into the same bottom corner he had picked out for his first to round off his maiden senior three-goal haul.
In fairness to Midhurst, they did not let their heads drop at such a disastrous start and began to come into the game as the first half progressed.
A long throw from the right caused problems for the Hassocks defence, requiring Trigwell to make a smart reaction save from a Lewis Rustell volley from point blank range.
Gunn’s attempted clearance then only made it as far Lewis Hamilton in pole position on the edge of the box.
Hamilton motored onto the ball and hit an effort which dipped just the wrong side of the post with Trigwell rooted to the spot.
Hassocks might have had a fourth when both Mendonca and Lidiard got in a bit of a mess attempting to play out from the back.
Frankland dispossessed the latter. With Benson and Wilkes both arriving in support, Frankland tried to chip Mendonca one-on-one but did not get the required leverage as the Midhurst goalkeeper made the save.
Benson stretched to turn a Harding cross just wide at the start of a final five minutes of the half which brought plenty of drama; namely, Bradley Tighe picking up two quickfire yellow cards to leave Hassocks down to 10.
Fair made way for Alfie Loversidge at the break in a tactical response to Tighe’s red. The second half subsequently became a case of seeing the game out from a Hassocks point of view.
Gunn had to make a solid block from Stags substitute Charlie Osbourne. Trigwell meanwhile saved a Hamilton drive and smothered bravely at the feet of Marcus Bedford before Matt Rowland scrambled home a consolation for Midhurst in injury time.
Hassocks: Fraser Trigwell; Bradley Tighe, Matt Gunn, Alex Bygraves, Joe Bull; Tom Frankland, Jamie Wilkes, Mike Williamson, Pat Harding; Alex Fair, Liam Benson.
Subs: Alfie Loversidge, Sam Geard (used), Kyle Woolven, Josh Mundy, Charlie Fogden (unused).
