In-form forward takes his first away since summer move to the Robins
The goals flowed for the grey-haired goose in September, leading Ruari Farrell to pick up his first ever Hassocks Player of the Month Award.
Farrell has had to wait patiently for a run of starts since his summer move from Mid Sussex Premier Division outside Lindfield, such has been the form of Morgan Vale.
But with Vale missing the FA Vase trip to Horley Town, Farrell grabbed his opportunity with two excellent goals to fire the Robins into the first round proper of the competition.
Farrell first struck inside the opening 10 minutes, taking on an early shot which caught Clarets goalkeeper George Hyde by surprise as it whistled into the top corner.
He then provided the winner via a brilliant piece of improvisation, heading a bouncing ball over a Horley defender, running around and then looping a second header beyond Hyde.
Another brace followed in the 4-0 win at Roffey three days later. Farrell added the third Hassocks goal when springing the offside trap to latch onto a Dan Turner clip over the top.
One touch with the chest later and Farrell rifled an unstoppable volley which drew applause even from the home support.
His second of the night was more of a poacher’s finish, Farrell bundling home a Raging Joe Bull corner from close range on the hour mark.
Noah Hoffman had started the scoring at Bartholomew Way with his first Hassocks goal, helping him to second place in Player of the Month after Farrell.
The game was only three minutes old when Hoffmann timed his run to perfection to slam home Bull’s cross first-time without breaking stride.
Hoffmann also shone at Horley in the Vase, delivering a mature performance in what was an otherwise young and relatively inexperienced midfield.
Third place in September Player of the Month went to Alfie Loversidge, who like Farrell shone after spending much of the opening month of the campaign on the bench.
He has grabbed the chance presented by Joe Overy playing more regularly for Burgess Hill Town, seamlessly taking over from the Hillians youngster on the right wing.
Loversidge’s best performance of September was in the 4-1 win over Horsham YMCA, where he was involved in the second goal scored by Big Alex Fair.
He also did a fine job in a more central role as part of that young midfield trio against Horley when Hassocks switched to a 3-5-2 formation to good effect.
