MICHAEL AT THE DEATH AS ROBINS MAKE IT A SUPER SEVEN
A reunion with their record goal scorer awaits Hassocks in the Sussex Senior Cup after they earned a plum tie with Conference South promotion hopefuls Eastbourne Borough.
Pat Harding will return to the Beacon for the first time since moving to Priory Lane two seasons ago after the Robins booked their spot in round two of the competition courtesy of a 2-0 win away at Shoreham.
Goals from the in-form Anthony Hibbert and young Matt Amos decided a drab tie that offered very little entertainment or goal mouth action for those in attendance at Middle Road.
That was somewhat of a surprise given that the Robins came into the tie having plundered 19 goals so far in October to move up to the dizzy heights of third in the Division One table.
Dave John made one personnel change from Tuesday night’s 2-0 victory over Selsey and a raft of positional changes. Striker Mark Sheriff had missed that win over the Blues stuck in London and he returned to the side in place of the suspended Stuart Faith.
Mickey Turner, who did such an admirable job deputising for Sheriff in attack at such late notice, returned to his more familiar right wing back role, Sam Fisk pushed into midfield, Spencer Slaughter dropped in at sweeper and Ashley Marsh shifted across to play as the left sided centre back.
Slaughter did a commendable job in a position he has rarely been tried in at first team level while the dependable Pete Lear was equally impressive in shepherding Laurence Edwards, so often a thorn in Hassocks’ side, so that he hardly had a kick.
The stand out performer though was Marsh. Shoreham went into the game with just Darren Annis as a lone front man but he packs enough quality to be a real danger all by himself.
It was testament to the performance of Marsh then that the Mussels’ key man got just one sniff of goal, leaving Joel Harding to have a pretty trouble-free afternoon.
Harding’s goal faced its busiest period in the opening 15 minutes when Paul Schofield fired over from 12 yards when well placed and Jamie Groves produced a defender’s finish to shoot straight at Harding from three yards after Annis’ corner wasn’t effectively dealt with.
Aside from that, Shoreham’s only ploy seemed to be to throw aerial balls into the box which the Hassocks defence were more than happy to deal with.
Hassocks’ first chance fell to Hibbert, but his effort proved to be of more danger to aircraft at the nearby airport than it did Steve Allfrey’s goal.
It was however Hibbert who gave the Robins the lead with 28 minutes played although it owed a lot to a schoolboy error from Allfrey.
Hibbert’s shot from the edge of the box lacked the normal power or bend that he manages to supply but Allfrey managed to let the ball slip through his hands and then his legs as it just about trickled over the line for the softest of goals.
Allfrey did go make some amends for that error on the stroke of half time, producing an excellent stop to keep out a Matt Robbins effort.
If entertainment had been in short supply in the first half then the second half was even worse as both sides seemed determined to gift the ball away, not helped by a difficult surface.
Phil Gault headed wide from a Hibbert cross, Fisk was denied by the feet of Allfrey and on the one occasion Annis did manage to escape the attentions of Marsh he was off target.
Amos had travelled back from Cambridge University for the weekend and John afforded him the final seven minutes which proved to be enough time for him to notch his eighth of the season, tapping home Hibbert’s pinpoint cross to wrap up the tie and bring Borough to the Beacon.
Hassocks: Joel Harding; Mickey Turner, Pete Lear, Spencer Slaughter, Ashley Marsh, Richard Thompson; Sam Fisk, Anthony Hibbert, Matt Robbins; Phil Mark Gault, Sheriff.
Subs: Matt Amos (Sheriff 83), Ian Simpson (Turner 90), Logan Newington, Dan Jacques, Phil Wickwar (unused).
Starman: Ashley Marsh did a superb job on Shoreham dangerman Darren Annis, although Pete Lear ran him close with another consistent effort.
