O’CALLAGHAN AND WALLIS COME TOGETHER TO HELP EARN ROBINS A POINT
Things looked a little ominous for Hassocks before kick off away at Lingfield. The Robins were forced into fielding a makeshift centre back pairing against opponents containing a striker with 139 professional goals to his name.
Having never played together before, Kieran O’Callaghan and Rowan Wallis were thrown together and asked to deal with the considerable threat posed by Nicky Forster.
The former Brighton, Brentford, Reading, Birmingham City, Ipswich and Hull City forward has plundered seven goals in 10 games since his return to Godstone Road in early March.
Forster though could get no change out of O’Callaghan and Wallis, who were magnificent in helping a Robins side missing several key players to a highly impressive 1-1 draw.
Mickey Jewell was without either Ashley Marsh or Stuart Faith, necessitating O’Callaghan being redeployed from midfield and Wallis receiving the call up from the reserves.
With Elliott Butler only deemed fit enough to sit on the bench as an unused substitute, there was also a rare start for Stuart Brown on the right with James Westlake shifted into the middle of the park.
The patched up look of this Hassocks side combined with having to defend the slope in the first half meant the Robins were under a lot of early pressure.
Simon Lehkyj was never really troubled however, thanks largely to Messrs Wallis and O’Callaghan with able support from Rob South at right back and Lee Bryant at left back.
The Robins gradually came into the game as it ticked towards the break, even managing to fashion the first clearcut opportunity of the match on 38 minutes.
Westlake got the ball rolling with a quickly taken free kick to catch the hosts out. Some nice midfield interplay followed, ended with Weston cutting in from the left to shoot narrowly wide.
Lingfield reacted to that warning by taking the lead in the final seconds of the half. Play was switched from right to left, followed by the ball being crossed into the feet of Danny Oatkins from the by-line.
Oatkins did not have much room to work with, but he showed impressive feet to lay back out of the tight space to Gareth Graham on the edge of the box.
Graham hit a first time effort which nestled in the far corner via a deflection which took it just beyond the despairing dive of Lehkyj.
It was harsh on Hassocks for them to go into the break trailing. They did not waste any time feeling sorry for themselves, flying out the traps at the start of the second half. Lingfield were caught by surprise and the Robins nearly had an equaliser within three minutes of the restart.
Nathan Cooper spread play out to Brown on the right. Brown’s clever first time volleyed cross was met by the head of Nathan Miles, forcing giant Lingfield goalkeeper Rob O’Hara to tip over the bar.
The Hassocks equaliser arrived on 79 minutes with the best move of the match. South hit a diagonal pass to Miles, who produced an outrageous flick around the corner which enabled Phil Gault to spring the Lingers offside trap.
It initially looked as though the ball was going to head out of play but Gault did superbly to keep it in. Gault then spotted the run of Westlake into the box and picked him out with the perfect cross volleyed home neatly via a sidefoot from eight yards. Not a bad way for Westlake to mark his 100th appearance in a Hassocks shirt.
Nobody could have blamed the Robins for settling for a point after levelling the tie. Jewell though was bold, throwing on two attack minded youth team players in winger Aaron Czech and striker Ryan John.
There were a couple of half chances for either side in the final 10 minutes, whilst stoppage time offered a stage for the otherwise surprisingly subdued Dixie Dean to entertain with a trademark appeal when he felt his Lingfield side should have been awarded a penalty.
Overall, a share of the spoils was probably a fair result – with the biggest cheer of the afternoon reserved for referee Theo Parfitt after he took a Cooper clearance in the unmentionables on the hour mark.
Hassocks: Simon Lehkyj; Rob South, Kieran O’Callaghan, Rowan Wallis, Lee Bryant; Stuart Brown, Nathan Cooper, James Westlake, Jamie Weston; Nathan Miles, Phil Gault.
Subs: Aaron Czech (Cooper), Ryan John (Brown), Elliott Butler (unused).
Starman: Joint award to Kieran O’Callaghan and Rowan Wallis who between them ensured the dangerous Nicky Forster had a quiet afternoon.
