Roffey rue Johnson after his late double wins it for Robins
Three minutes. That was all that stood between Roffey and a first Southern Combination League win of the season at the 26th attempt.
The Boars led 1-0 through Kelvin Lucas’ first half opener and had dug in doggedly to frustrate Hassocks whilst playing with 10 men following a controversial 47th minute red card for Morgan Prill.
It looked like the Bartholomew Way crowd were going to finally be rewarded for their loyalty in what has proven to be an incredibly difficult debut season in the Premier Season.
But then Phil Johnson came to the party. Two goals in the space of seven minutes from the Robins’ top scorer turned the game on its head, leaving Roffey shell-shocked as the visitors snatched a 2-1 victory from the jaws of defeat.
Neutrals and kinder hearted Hassocks fans would have found it hard not to feel sorry for the home support. James Westlake and his players however had little sympathy, largely because of the timewasting and gamesmanship Roffey had deployed in their search for that elusive maiden victory.
It took a long while for proceedings to heat up on a freezing cold night. The opening five minutes resembled the animal football match in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, where the two goalkeepers just send the ball from one end to the other over the heads of every outfield player.
James Shaw would kick down to opposite number Jasper Sheik who would send back to Shaw who would… well, you get the picture.
Some actual passing eventually broke out on 11 minutes when Mike Williamson and tall striker Jamie Wilkes worked a chance for Jack Troak which was dragged wide. A rare Roffey foray forward saw Shaw make a smart double save before the offside flag went up.
Hassocks were forced into a change on the half hour when Joe Bull was withdrawn after taking a whack in a late challenge. Troak took over from Bull at left back with Leon Turner entering proceedings out wide.
Seven minutes later and Roffey took the lead. The goal came when a Hassocks corner went awry and the Boars were able to break forward at speed.
Ricardo Fernandes hit a through ball perfectly weighted for Lucas to just collect ahead of Shaw, who was by that point a good 25 yards off his line.
Lucas nipped around the Hassocks goalkeeper and advanced to roll into the empty net. In fairness to Shaw, he did well not to bring Lucas down and avoid the certain red card which would have come with it.
Hassocks responded to falling behind with their best spell of the first half. Josh Bradley blazed a good chance to equalise over the bar 60 seconds after Lucas struck and Turner placed an effort too close to Sheik two minutes before the break.
Prill clattered into Bradley two minutes after the restart and although the collision was nasty, it appeared as though Prill had slipped on a surface becoming frosty rather than it being a malicious tackle.
It therefore came as a surprise when referee Harry Wood opted to send Prill for an early bath, leaving Roffey 43 minutes to negotiate with only 10 men.
Sitting in two deep banks of four, they were well organised and it looked for the most part like Hassocks were going to fail to break them down.
The Robins had to wait half an hour from the red card until their first real chance of the second half. When Johnson fired that over from a good position eight yards out and Bradley Tighe could only find the side netting when attacking a ball in at the far post, it began to feel like it was going to be one of those nights for the Hassocks.
That was until the 87th minute. Troak found himself attacking the by-line and pulling a low cross into the box. Substitute Pat Harding collected and showed all his experience, holding the ball up and drawing a foul which led Mr Wood to award a penalty.
Sheik did his best to put Johnson off by standing on the spot, rearranging his socks and speaking a fair amount of claptrap.
Johnson was nonplussed by it all and after a bit of a delay in taking the penalty, he smashed the ball into the very top corner to level things up.
By his normal standards, Johnson had endured a quiet game up to that point. Sheik though had now poked the bear with his antics and that spelt bad news for Roffey.
There were 94 minutes on the clock when Turner collected inside his own half and ran 70 yards forward before slipping the ball through to Johnson.
The angle initially appeared too tight but that did not matter to Johnson, who drilled a brilliant effort across Sheik and into the far corner.
Roffey appealed for offside and although it looked tight, there was no flag forthcoming. Harsh on the hosts, but credit Hassocks for finding a way to win.
Hassocks: James Shaw; Harvey Blake, Bradley Tighe, Alex Bygraves, Joe Bull; Josh Bradley, Mike Williamson, Jamie Wilkes, Jack Troak; Phil Johnson, Phil Gault.
Subs: Leon Turner (Bull 30), James Westlake (Wilkes 66), Pat Harding (Gault 72), Alfie Loversidge (Bradley 72), Will Broomfield (unused).
Bedlam Brewery Starman: Phil Johnson.
