O’CALLAGHAN RESCUES A REPLAY AND HASSOCKS FROM CUP UPSET
Kieran O’Callaghan spared the blushes of Hassocks with a 112th minute equaliser which prevented their elimination from the Sussex Senior Cup at the hands of lowly Division Two outfit Steyning Town.
It finished a 1-1 draw at the Shooting Field, the Robins’ third result in a row by that scoreline and remarkably their eighth of the season from 20 matches.
Mickey Jewell was far from impressed but his side did at least earn a second crack at beating the Barrowmen and earning a plum home tie against Ryman League Whitehawk in round two.
Steyning belied their position of second bottom in the division below Hassocks with a gutsy display on an awful surface made worse by heavy overnight rain which continued into the morning.
Town adapted better to the conditions whilst the Robins tried to play their usual passing game. That was never likely to work on a lumpy, bumpy pitch.
Hassocks though were so sloppy in possession and so quick to give the ball away that they would have struggled even playing on a Wembley-esque surface.
The game kicked off at 2pm, an hour early than originally advertised due to problems with the Shooting Field’s floodlights.
Some Hassocks fans did not get the memo and arrived at the interval, not that they missed much as there was hardly any action of note in a dire first half.
It took until the 33rd minute for the first shot on target from either side to arrive. Stuart Brown cut inside from the right and put an effort straight at Darren Ford.
Ryan De Freitas fired over for Town shortly afterwards. Right on the stroke of half time, the industrious Jamie Hillwood had a shot blocked at the far post on his first start since the 2008-09 season. And that was about as good as it got.
Hassocks upped their game in the second half but several promising moves lacked the final ball and broke down on the edge of or around the box.
Brown departed with an injury six minutes after the break, Jewell taking the opportunity to introduce Spencer Slaughter who had begun the game on the bench after being rested.
Slaughter brought increased energy and was was soon into the action, releasing Phil Gault down a channel.
Gault’s layback found Anthony Hibbert but he could only shoot wide before making way for Lee Waterhouse shortly afterwards, coming on against his former club.
The angle proved too tight as Slaughter chipped wide and Hassocks had strong penalty appeals waved away when Ryan Pratt appeared to handle a Elliott Butler free kick.
On 66 minutes the deadlock should have been broken by the Robins. A long kick from Jack Simpson found Hillwood on the left.
He whipped in a pinpoint cross to the far post but the usually clinical Gault somehow headed across goal and wide from barely two yards out.
Hassocks had a huge let off themselves as the game entered the final 10 minutes when Steyning fashioned what was the best opportunity of the 90.
Simpson had been a virtual spectator all afternoon when he suddenly found himself confronted by the lively Sean Pickup running clear.
Pickup beat Simpson but not the bar, the ball blasting against the woodwork and away to safety as the game meandered into extra time.
The additional period was three minutes old when Steyning took the lead, a deserved reward for frustrating the Robins and making an even game of it up to that point.
Substitute Lewis Levoi was the scorer, netting with a brilliant volley that left Simpson with no hope of keeping it out.
Jewell immediately brought on Nathan Miles in place of the hardworking Dan Smith and moved Gault further forward to try and find an equaliser.
For all their plugging away, it didn’t look like Hassocks would find a way through and Steyning were just eight minutes from bringing the reigning County League champions to the Shooting Field when O’Callaghan levelled.
Waterhouse played a corner short to Butler whose out-swinging cross was eventually poked past Ford by O’Callaghan.
At that point, both sides seemed content with their lot. A draw was ultimately the correct result with the right to face Hawks now to be decided in a replay at the Beacon next month.
Hassocks: Jack Simpson; Rob South, Ashley Marsh, Pete Lear, Elliott Butler; Stuart Brown, Kieran O’Callaghan, Phil Gault, Anthony Hibbert, Jamie Hillwood; Dan Smith.
Subs: Spencer Slaughter (Brown 51), Lee Waterhouse (Hibbert 67), Nathan Miles (Smith 95).
