TWO GOALS IN SIX MINUTES HELP ROBINS BEAT CHAMPIONS
The Southern Combination League Under 23 West Division’s reigning champions met the current leaders at Nyetimber Lane and it was the pretenders to the throne who came out victorious.
Two goals in the space of six second half minutes from first Matt Berridge and then James Littlejohn were enough to give Hassocks a 2-1 win away at Pagham and maintain their three-point advantage at the top over Horsham YMCA.
The result completed a league double over the Lions for Nigel Pearce’s side, following in the footsteps of a 2-0 victory at the Beacon in September.
It also goes someway towards inflicting revenge on a Pagham side who not only did their own double over Hassocks last season, but also ended the Robins title hopes when winning in Mid Sussex in the final game of the campaign.
Revenge has been something of a theme for the Under 23s in recent weeks, their victory the previous Thursday coming against Selsey who remain the only side to have beaten Hassocks so far in the league.
Pearce made two changes from the side who defeated the Blues 4-1 with Louie Derham replacing unavailable captain Ellis Common, first team midfielder Dan Stokes coming in for James Oliver and Martin Ratcliffe taking the place of George Galbraith-Gibbons.
All the goals arrived in a busy 15-minute period just after the break in a first half in which neither side was really able to land an effective glove on the other.
Joe Ashmore opened the scoring for the hosts with 54 minutes played but they weren’t ahead for long, Matt Berridge levelling things up on 61.
That took Berridge onto four goals in six Under 23 appearances so far this season, a fantastic return from the midfield whose form in front of goal could prove vital to Pearce’s hopes of lifting the club’s first ever silverware at this level of football come the end of the season.
Hassocks followed up Berridge’s equaliser with what proved to be the winner six minutes later, top scorer James Littlejohn netting his 16th of the campaign to deliver another huge three points for the Robins in front of a bumper crowd of 59.
Pagham’s chances of getting back into the tie were dealt a blow when Joe Ashmore was red carded while the positives for Hassocks didn’t begin and end with victory as they were also able to welcome back second top scorer Max Willcox who was given a run out from the bench.
The Robins take a break from league action now with their next fixture coming in a fortnights time in the quarter finals of the League Cup. Midhurst & Easebourne are the visitors to the Beacon with a 7.45pm kick off.
Hassocks: Josh Green, Connor Bradley, Kieran Wells, Joe Russell, Louie Derham, Matt Berridge, Dan Stokes, Harvey Enticknap, Martin Ratcliffe, Will Glenn, James Littlejohn.
Subs: Steve Bright, Max Willcox, Max Donaldson (used).
