Hassocks may have only won once in February, but it was arguably their most impressive victory of the entire 2018-19 season as they triumphed away at Newhaven for the first time ever.
The Trafalgar Ground had never been the happiest of hunting grounds for the Robins. Their record there read six defeats out of seven games with 24 conceded at an average of over three a game.
Yet all that changed on February 16th 2019 as Spencer Slaughter scored the only goal of the game to give Mark Dalgleish’s side a shock 1-0 win over their title chasing hosts.
That Hassocks did it without the services of Phil Johnson made the feat even more impressive. The Robins captain and leading goal scorer limped off early on to be replaced by former Woking midfielder George Brown.
Brown proved to be a more than adequate emergency striker however, even if his own afternoon was also curtailed prematurely after an unnecessary red card when he kicked the ball away when already on a yellow in the second half.
Prior to that, Brown was involved in the only goal of the game which arrived just 60 seconds before the break. He linked up well with Harvey Enticknap down the right before digging out a cross to the back post which was met by Spencer Slaughter who beat Freddie Beale in the air to send a header past Jake Buss in the Dockers goal.
That proved to be enough to defeat a Dockers outfit who came into the clash having won 13 of their previous 16 Premier Division games, form that was in stark contrast to how Hassocks had begun February.
The Robins’ first fixture of the month had seen them crash 4-1 away at Saltdean United. Hassocks had taken the lead at Hill Park through Harry Mills’ poachers finish low and hard into the bottom corner after a Joe Bull corner from the left was knocked by the chest of Johnson.
Mills was clearly delighted with that if his acrobatic celebration was anything to go by but Hassocks’ joy didn’t extend much beyond the 40 minute mark as two goals in the final five minutes of the first half from Curtis Gayler saw the Tigers go into the break 2-1 ahead. They added to that in the second half through Robin Keen and Will Berry to complete a resounding victory.
A week later and it looked like a similarly disappointing result was going to be on the cards for Hassocks as they trailed 3-0 to struggling Loxwood going in at half time of the Magpies’ visit to the Beacon.
Mark Goldson, Sam Karl and former Robins favourite Eddie French had put Alex Walsh’s side in a comfortable looking position which was just reward for a scintillating first half of football in which the visitors defied their place in the Premier Division’s bottom three.
Dalgleish’s response was to make a bold treble substitution at half time but even the Hassocks manager can’t have expected the change to have such a dramatic effect as within 12 minutes of the restart the Robins had scored three times to level things up.
On came Slaughter, Brown and Dan Stokes in place of Dan Jacques, Bradley Tighe and Jake Lindsey. The three new faces were electric from the first whistle, while Dalgleish’s decision to switch from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 caught Loxwood by surprise as the visitors were completely overwhelmed.
Just four minutes of the second half had elapsed when Slaughter, Brown and Johnson linked up to fashion a chance for Harvey Enticknap who made no mistake, smashing the ball past Liam Matthews and into the top corner for a deserved first senior goal for the Robins and against his old club for good measure.
Three minutes later and Slaughter started a break down the right that was finished off by Brown, netting just seven minutes into his debut and four minutes after that, an excellent passing move through Slaughter, Joe Bull, Brown and Johnson ended with Slaughter sliding him the equaliser at the far post.
The Robins’ famous victory at Newhaven came a week later and they rounded off February with a 1-1 home draw with Little Common.
A selection crisis caused by suspensions and unavailability was eased somewhat by the signings of Jack Rowe-Hurst and Lewis Westlake who returned to the Beacon from Shoreham and Loxwood respectively with the former starting and the latter being introduced from the bench.
Lewis Hole gave Common the lead in the 13th minute with Hassocks having to wait some time for their leveller, a short corner routine catching the visitors out and allowing Benson to scramble home at the near post.
Benson ended February as the Robins Player of the Month ahead of Enticknap in second and Slaughter in third. Those results meant that Johnson missed out on the top three for the first time in seven months.
The Under 23s had a good month as they won three games out of three to maintain their hopes of winning a league and cup double.
Two hugely impressive West Division victories saw them defeat Selsey 4-1 through goals from Matt Berridge, Connor Bradley and a James Littlejohn double and Pagham 2-1 with Berridge and Littlejohn again netting.
Selsey had been the only side to defeat Nigel Pearce’s side in the league up until that point in the season while Pagham were the reigning champions so it was six significant points for the Robins.
They also moved into the semi finals of the League Cup thanks to a 5-2 win over Midhurst & Easebourne. Littlejohn’s blistering run of form continued as he notched a hat-trick with strike partners Max Willcox and George Galbraith-Gibbons also on target.
Brad Sweetman’s Under 18s played just the once in February and they suffered a heavy Central Division defeat to Steyning Town, going down 6-0 at the Beacon.
The Ladies record breaking season continued with another two victories. There was a hugely impressive 7-2 win in the quarter finals of the South East Counties Women’s League Cup away at higher division Worthing thanks to hat-tricks from Billie Philpott and Kelly Rushworth.
That was followed by a 8-0 Division One East success at home to Milford & Witley. Philpott again hit a treble with Kirsten Mair and Rushworth notching braces and Tallie Bright popping up with a rare goal.
