Three points from Pagham pays perfect tribute to Dave
At Clayton Wood Burial Ground a stone’s throw from the Beacon on Tuesday morning, a service was held for Hassocks Football Club stalwart Dave Knight who passed away recently.
Come the evening and the Robins delivered a fitting tribute to a man associated for more than 40 years with the club by winning 2-1 away at Pagham.
Dave fulfilled many roles for Hassocks, although he was best known for his lengthy spells as secretary and programme editor.
He was a huge figure in the move from Adastra Park to the Beacon. At one point, he lent the club money to get through a cashflow crisis without which it may not have survived.
Dave was never afraid to speak his mind and that made him a fascinating character for post-game analysis; the more action packed a game, the more incidents to pick through, the better.
He would have enjoyed this trip to Nyetimber Lane. Pagham spent most of the second half playing numerically disadvantaged, firstly through a number of sin bins and then by two late red cards which saw them finish with only nine men on the pitch.
Hassocks kept their cool by-and-large, the end result being three points which leaves them sitting a single goal off the top of the Southern Combination Premier Division.
Both Crowborough Athletic and the Robins have 10 points at the head of the table. The Crows lead the way on account of their +8 goal difference compared to the +7 of Hassocks.
Too early to be paying any serious attentions to the standings? Almost certainly. But it is rare to see the Robins flying in such a lofty position and so hard not to marvel at the novelty of it all.
Hassocks made a good start, knocking the ball around well across their backline and in midfield. Inroads further forward were more difficult to come by until Pagham were dealt a blow with 10 minutes played when centre back Daryl Wollers took a nasty blow to the face.
Wollers required lengthy treatment on the side of the pitch, missing a good five minutes of the action as a result.
Midfielder John Phillips dropped in to cover from Wollers. Little did Pagham know that this would not be the last time they would find themselves a man down.
Having done the hard work by navigating that spell playing shorthanded without conceding, the Lions fell behind within a few minutes of Wollers returning to the fray.
Raging Joe Bull delivered a corner and Super Pat Harding was left free to head home unchallenged.
As a Hassocks stalwart himself who came through the youth setup at the Beacon 20 years ago when Mr Knight was secretary, Harding was a most apt opening scorer.
Hassocks moved 2-0 ahead just past the half hour mark. A long ball over the top sent Liam Benson racing clear one-on-one with Connor Kelly.
The Pagham goalkeeper made an outstanding save, only for the ball to divert towards the onrushing Kyle Woolven.
There was to be no mistake from Woolven, who clinically despatched the rebound for his second goal in as many matches.
Having already booked two Pagham players by this point, referee Tazlim Ali was about to become even more busy.
Dan Simmonds became the first Lion to be sin binned for ranting at Mr Ali after being penalised for a tug of a Hassocks shirt on the stroke of half time.
Pagham were dealt a further blow when Wollers succumbed to his earlier injury and was withdrawn at the break.
Hassocks did their best to take advantage of both the disruption in the Pagham defence and Simmonds sitting out 10 minutes, almost adding a third through Benson.
Simmonds’ return to the action gave the Lions 11 men once again but this was very short lived as within a couple of minutes, Lucas Micevisius was sent to the sin bin.
The Robins fashioned several half chances during this latest period of 11 versus 10, though none were serious enough to worry Kelly.
It was totally against the run of play when Pagham pulled one back on 67 minutes. Alex Bygraves and Matt Gunn collided when attempting to clear, leaving Simmonds to go through and beat Fraser Trigwell one-on-one.
Cutting the deficit perked the Lions up. They enjoyed a lot more possession and it needed Bygraves and Gunn to atone for their earlier moment by making some vital interventions to prevent Trigwell being called into serious action.
Home hopes of an equaliser were all-but extinguished when Jamie Ford picked up harsh second yellow card for an innocent foul on 84 minutes.
In contrast, there could be no defending substitute Ronald Kardos two minutes later when he was shown a deserved straight red for a horror challenge as the Lions well and truly lost their heads.
Hassocks: Fraser Trigwell; Harvey Blake, Matt Gunn, Alex Bygraves, Joe Bull; Tom Frankland, Josh Mundy, Jamie Wilkes, Pat Harding; Kyle Woolven, Liam Benson.
Subs: Alfie Loversidge (Harding 64), Mike Williamson (Mundy 70), Bradley Tighe (Woolven 90), James Westlake, Geard (unused).
Starman: Kyle Woolven.
