GAULT TREBLE WINS EMOTIONAL DAY FOR ROBINS
At the end of an emotional week for everyone connected with Hassocks, there was at least something to cheer on the pitch as Phil Gault’s hat-trick delivered a 3-1 victory over Lingfield.
On Monday, Ann John lost her long battle with cancer and so whilst most fixtures across Sussex were wiped out by the weather, the Robins were determined to get their game on in order to pay tribute to the wife of long-time former manager Dave John.
The hard work paid off with the Beacon pitch boggy in places but certainly playable and the biggest attendance across the entire County League so far this season of 208 packed into the ground to pay their respects.
There were plenty of familiar faces from John’s Hassocks sides of old amongst the crowd with the current squad wearing shirts with Ann’s name on and a moving minutes applause held before kick-off.
The rain that had fallen prior to 3pm was indicative of the mood but a more probing issue for those on the pitch was the strong wind howling down the length of the Beacon.
Lingfield had it behind their backs in the first half and made a bright start to proceedings before falling behind to a penalty after Alfie Dean upended Craig Knowles and Gault made no mistake from the spot.
The lead lasted barely more than a minute however as a free kick by Lingfield playmaker and skipper Gareth Graham found the talented Joel O’Hara who rose superbly to head a wind-assisted delivery past Alex Harris in the Hassocks goal from close range.
O’Hara was probably the best player on the pitch in the first half and his running battles with Ashley Marsh and Nathan Cooper looked like they would have a pivotal bearing on the game’s outcome.
O’Hara aside, the first half lacked any real quality or fluency which perhaps should not have come as a surprise given the familiarity between these two teams.
It was their third meeting of the campaign already, Hassocks having won 1-0 at Godstone Road in the league back in September and then followed that up with a 3-2 Sussex Principal RUR Charity Cup second round success at the Beacon in October.
Gault had shown the Lingers all his goal scoring qualities in those encounters, netting four of the Robins five goals and the talismanic forward added to his first half penalty with two more in the first 13 minutes of the second half, taking his total to six for the season against the Surrey based outfit.
The first came via a howler from visiting goalkeeper Jason Stillwell who, struggling with his side now facing the ominous task of dealing with the gale, let an Anthony Hibbert corner drop from his grasp to allow Gault to volley home crisply from close range.
The second arrived 10 minutes later, a typically powerful Gault finish from open play which left Stillwell with no chance and gave the Robins top scorer his 17th of the season.
It was a relatively comfortable last 30 minutes from that point on which would have pleased Hassocks manager Mickey Jewell, back in the dugout after missing his side’s three previous games after a spell in hospital in which they’d picked up just one point from a draw with Chichester City.
Jewell’s opposite number Dixie Dean is a passionate yet highly volatile boss and he was sent from the bench in the second half by referee Michael Ryan.
Seasoned Robins observers will remember a couple of other occasions when he has failed to see out the game when visiting the Beacon, most notably three seasons ago when he threw the medical kit to the ground and then began kicking it around whilst acting as a physio after his side weren’t awarded a penalty.
That particular incident earned him an FA misconduct charge and although one could fully sympathise of his frustrations on this occasion after Dan Jacques somehow escaped a booking for a blatant foul, the way he went about making the point to Mr Ryan with a verbal tirade that went on for a painfully long time left the official with no choice but to send Dean from the dugout.
Shortly after that there was concern on the Hassocks bench after Cooper had to be withdrawn again with a dislocated shoulder, the second time this season that the problem has surfaced.
Although physio Robin Bishop popped it back in, there does appear to be a weakness there which isn’t good news for such a highly influential player.
Cooper’s place was taken by Rob South with Alex Gathern moving across to centre back and Nick Pitcher pushing into midfield whilst the biggest cheer of the afternoon was unsurprisingly reserved for the Robins third and final sub as Jewell threw on Ann’s grandson Ryan John in place of Knowles for his first appearance of the season.
John made a goal scoring debut from the bench away at Selsey last season and although there was to be no repeat of that here to provide a fitting end to the day’s tribute to Ann, it was job done on a moving day for Hassocks.
Hassocks: Alex Harris; Alex Gathern, Ashley Marsh, Nick Pitcher, Tom Davess; Anthony Hibbert, Nathan Cooper, Jamie Ingham, Dan Jacques; Phil Gault, Craig Knowles.
Subs: Mark Price (Ingham 63), Rob South (Cooper 68), Ryan John (Knowles 80).
