Robins regain local bragging rights by beating Rangers
Local bragging rights went the way of Hassocks Under 18s as they returned from St Francis Rangers with a 4-1 victory.
The result moved the Robins four points clear at the top of the Southern Combination League Under 18 Central Division, although Burgess Hill Town possess a 100 percent record and have three games in hand.
Last season’s title race was a close-run thing between the Hillians and Rangers, just edged by St Francis.
Hassocks were unable to beat either of the top two in the league on their way to finishing third, but they did manage to knock Rangers out of the Sussex Dennis Probee Youth Cup on penalties during that memorable run to the semi finals of the competition.
Whilst Hill are strong contenders for the championship once again this time around and Hassocks continue to challenge at the right end, Rangers have struggled and came into this game second bottom of the standings with just one win to their name.
That had though arrived the previous week, St Francis beating AFC Varndenians 3-1 at Withdean Stadium to leapfrog their hosts in the process.
On the same Sunday morning, Hassocks came out on top in a pretty extraordinary game against Mile Oak.
The Robins led 6-0 inside of 12 minutes on their way to a 9-0 victory. Seven of the goals came from Cavan Chedzey, including a hat-trick within three minutes and 40 seconds of the start.
Understandably, Hassocks did not want to deviate too much from the starting XI who from that astonishing performance and so they made only one change.
Evan China returned to the starting XI, taking over from Toby Munt who dropped down to the bench. Joining Munt amongst the replacements was George Lythgoe, who was handed his Hassocks debut as a substitute.
Chedzey had to settle for scoring only three times this week, his hat-trick moving him onto 15 for the season from nine appearances and taking him to the top of the Central Division scoring charts.
Josh Nandhra provided the other Hassocks goal, kicking off what would turn out to be a rather good week for him.
A little over 48 hours later and Nandhra marked his full first team debut with a man-of-the-match performance and a goal as the Robins picked up a stunning 3-2 win away at Steyning Town.
Marley Moran scored the consolation goal for Rangers, who were competitive for large parts and look capable of moving up the table soon.
Hassocks are back at the Beacon next Sunday, hosting Saltdean United in an 11am kick off.
Hassocks: Theo Bradley, Charlie Fogden, Evan China, Ed Tobias, Sam Fernley, Kian Nandhra, Oliver Goswamy, Sam Dean, George Gladding, Josh Nandhra, Cavan Chedzey.
Subs: Toby Munt, Ben Murray, George Lythgoe (used).
