It was a mixed Sunday for Hassocks as the Ladies side racked up their biggest win of the season against Victoire Development but the Under 18s fell to a 3-2 defeat at home to local rivals St Francis Rangers.
It was a peculiar game for Martin Lee’s women away in Wallington. Being a development side, Victoire are permitted under league rules to have four matches per season which consist of nine-a-side.
Hassocks however had to travel with enough players to field a full squad in the event that the hosts had 11 available on the day. On this occasion they didn’t, leaving Lee to try and manage a squad of 14 with only nine starting berths available.
A comfortable 11-0 victory meant that everyone came home happy despite the limited game time on offer as the Robins made it seven wins from seven to sit five points clear of Mole Valley at the top of the table with a game in hand.
Hassocks came into the tie having netted 12 times in their past two games and they wasted no time in adding to that tally, scoring twice in the opening 12 minutes.
Billie Philpott was the architect of both, teeing up Kirsten Mair for the first and Katherine Chappell for the second. Chappell made it 3-0 midway through the half and Philpott added two of her own before half time to send the Robins into the break with a 5-0 lead.
Hassocks rang the changes at the interval in a bid to give everyone game time. Goalkeeper Sarah Chappell was withdrawn after a quiet afternoon in which she only had to deal with a couple of back passes and captain Sam Newman also made way as Ellie Moquet took over in goal and Emma Young in defence.
The second half was only a few minutes old when Katherine Chappell completed her hat-trick after collecting a Chloe John pass and Philpott didn’t have long to wait to join her in the treble club, slotting home the rebound after the Victoire goalkeeper had saved a Tallie Bright effort.
Katherine Chappell made way for Kelly Rushworth and Rushworth was soon in on the act, scoring within five minutes of her introduction for Hassocks’ eighth.
Mair then added two more to become the Robins’ third hat-trick scorer of the day and take her side into double figures with 20 minutes still to play.
Victorie did at least manage to stem the flow of goals after that, conceding just once more when Lisa Callow’s shot deceived the home goalkeeper, who denied Liz King and Hollie Larmar in between Hassocks’ 10th and 11th goals.
The Under 18s went down to a disappointing 3-2 defeat at home to local rivals St Francis Rangers, allowing Haywards Heath Town to open up a six point league at the top of the Under 18 Central Division.
Hassocks were understandably rusty having played just three times in the past six weeks due to a mixture of no fixtures being scheduled, adverse weather and Bosham pulling out of the league leaving them with a bye into the next round of the Sussex Bluefin Dennis Probee Youth Cup.
Manager Brad Sweetman made two changes to the side that beat Steyning Town in the Robins last outing three weeks ago. Winning goalscorer Alex Moulvogny returned to the starting line up at the expense of Ross Pedley and Yahya Azizi replaced Alfie Loveridge.
The game sparked into life five minutes before half time when Rangers took the lead through Harry Naylor. The visitors couldn’t quite see things through until the break, Hassocks going straight on the attack after they’d fallen behind with that bravery being rewarded as top scorer Tristan Hayes equalised seconds before referee Peter Moran blew for the interval.
Hayes put Hassocks ahead 11 minutes after the restart with his 13th goal from just eight appearances so far this season but that was as good as it got for the Robins as Omar-Jermain Ashby levelled things up on the hour mark.
It looked like both sides would have to settle for a draw as the game entered the final 10 minutes but that reckoned without Naylor scoring his second and Rangers’ third of the morning with five left on the clock to inflict a second defeat of the season on Hassocks.
