Popular forward Bully the latest to enter the Robins 100 Club
The Hassocks 100 Club has another member. Raging Joe Bull reached a century of appearances for the Robins when coming on as a second half substitute in the 2-0 defeat at Little Common.
Bull has hit the milestone in a little over four seasons, including the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns which were curtailed and interrupted by lockdowns.
He was initially signed for Hassocks as a midfielder by Mark Dalgleish in the summer of 2018 from Whitehawk, where he had been a key part of their dominant Under 18s side.
Bull trained on occasions with the Hawks first team – including the likes of Jake Robinson – when they were a National League South outfit.
With opportunities to progress to senior football at that level limited, the Robins were delighted to secure the signature of the then-18-year-old ahead of the 2018-19 season.
Bull made his Robins debut as a second half substitute in a 3-1 FA Cup extra preliminary qualifying round home defeat to Epsom & Ewell in September 2018.
He started 19 games in the 2018-19 season and made 18 appearances from the bench as Hassocks finished 12th in the Southern Combination League Premier Division. That remains their highest finish in the past nine years.
Bull mixed first team duties with turning out on a regular basis for the Under 23s in 2019-20. He was pushed further forward into a strikers role, scoring three times in 12 matches for the development squad.
Three was also the magic number in terms of first team goals. Bull notched the same amount from five senior starts and nine substitute appearances, breaking his duck in a 6-1 FA Vase defeat at home to Horley Town.
That kicked off a purple patch of form for Bull as further strikes in a 6-2 win over Loxwood and a crazy 6-4 Sussex Senior Cup victory at Arundel gave him three goals in the space of five matches.
By the time the spring 2020 lockdown arrived, Bull had been one of the few bright spots of the 2019-20 season for Hassocks. The Robins sat 19th in the table when the campaign was curtailed, sparing them a possible relegation to Division One.
Bull played 11 times in 2020-21 before that season fell by the wayside in December, scoring his fourth goal for the Robins in the shock 3-2 win over title favourites Lancing at the Beacon.
2021-22 brought another 33 outings – 19 starts and 14 from the bench – and three further goals. Two of those came in important victories over AFC Varndeanians and East Preston as Hassocks avoided relegation thanks to a superb second half of the season.
The appointment of James Westlake as head coach in the summer means that Bull has now worked under four different Hassocks managers.
That all four – Dalgleish, Dave John, Brad Sweetman and now Westlake – have made him a part of their first team squads tells you everything about his popularity at the Beacon and his exemplary attitude.
In total, Bull’s 100 has been brought up by 49 starts and 51 appearances from the bench. He has seven senior goals to his name.
Congratulations, Bully.
