Steve Bone from the Mid Sussex Times and Sussex World quizzes head coach after the Robins were crowned champions
History was made at the Hassocks Hotel Beacon Ground on Saturday, where a 3-0 victory over Crowborough Athletic saw the Robins win their first Southern Combination League title.
It also means Hassocks will play at step four of the non-league pyramid for the first time in their history next season.
Steve Bone from the Mid Sussex Times and Sussex World Sport quizzed Robins head coach James Westlake for his views on the stunning achievement – and the many people who have played a part in it.
Going back to the end of last season, did you and others think you were ready to go one better and do as you have done this year? Or was it just a case of “let’s aim for anything around the top end of the league and see where we get”?
Last season we broke the club record for the most amount of points and reached the play-offs.
This season, the club weren’t sure whether we could achieve that again and would have been happy with middle table finish.
Our goal as a management team and group of players at the start was to get ourselves in and amongst the playoffs again.
You always dream of winning the league but we thought our goals were realistic.
As the season has gone on, the dream ended up becoming a real possibility and to get over the line and win the league is an unbelievable feeling!
How much of a difference have the new signings you made both in the summer during the season made? And who have been the standouts?
We lost key players from our squad in the summer. Alex Bygraves, Matt Gunn, Mike Williamson and Pat Harding all departed in different ways and we knew we had to replace with quality and experience.
We managed to pull a strong squad together during pre-season and that’s when we believed our initial goals of a play-off spot were achievable.
It would be unfair of me to name any individual players as standing out; they have all played their part. It has been a real squad effort with 20 players all pulling in the same direction.
You also had your brother Lewis and Darren Budd join the coaching staff. How important have they been, and how has each one helped you as manager?
What to say about this management team! They have been incredible. Lewis in particular deserves a lot of credit for how he has taken to the role of assistant manager.
Supporting with coaching and being a real sounding board for myself has really help guide us through this season. So pleased and proud of him!
We have been supported so well by Jordan Wilson who has been a real asset to the club along with Lloyd Osland, who joined us at Christmas time from Haywards Heath.
When Pat retired and left the playing squad, we knew we needed someone to fill his boots in terms of an older head. Who better than Darren Budd? Again, great sounding board with bags of experience.
Hassocks always seem to have a good group of committee and volunteers. And Pat has been very pro-active since becoming chairman. Has that helped drive you on as a team to be successful?
It has been tough because the club has had to try and keep up with what has been happening on the pitch. We have always discussed how the club are trying to play catch up but over the course of this season, Pat has done well to start to bridge that gap.
I’m so pleased and happy for Dave John and the committee that have spent so much time and effort establishing the club and giving us a platform to build from.
I’m forever grateful to them for giving myself and the management team our first opportunity and to manage this great football club.
A big question has always been, does Hassocks pay players? This has all been achieved without a penny being spent on players.
I’ve always challenged this internally at the club but it’s not something that has happened. It’s great credit to the management team and players that this has been achieved without money.
Was there a point in the season where you thought ‘yes we are going to do this’? Maybe when Haywards Heath hit their rough patch?
We have described your title win as ‘nerveless’ as since a couple of games without a win at Christmas, you have not gone more than one game without victory I don’t think?
What separates us from the rest is how consistent we have been over the course of the 33 games played so far.
At this current time, we are the top scorers, have the best defence and the best home and away records. Which has seen us deservedly crowned champions with five games to spare.
When Haywards Heath made their change of management, we went five points clear on the day. We knew that was the time to push down on the accelerator given the amount of transition and change that was going on over there.
We’ve haven’t gone more than two games without winning. Every time we have fallen short and lost a game, we have gone on another big winning run. That’s full credit to the players
What now? Time to enjoy it? I imagine you want to finish the season strongly, carry on winning and get close to that 100 point mark?
Has there been any talk of next season yet. Is it confirmed you and the same backroom team will all still be in present roles?
And I imagine squad strengthening is on the agenda too, while you will want to give chances to all those who have got you here?
Full focus is on the remainder of this season. We want to finish as consistently as we have been up to this point and we also have the Peter Bentley League Cup final to play in May. Thoughts on next season will come in the close season.
