HIGH-FLYING BEARS BEAT HASSOCKS BUT ONLY JUST
Last time Hassocks travelled to Broadbridge Heath, it was a chastening experience.The Bears’ Leisure Centre home was on its last legs as the club were caught in limbo, playing at a facility they were supposed to have vacated months earlier but were still stuck at as the contractors working on their new High Wood Hill home repeatedly pushed back the moving in date.
As a result, the pitch on that grim November afternoon resembled a cabbage patch. Not that it provided any excuses for the Robins’ performance as they were deservedly beaten 6-0 by Steve Painter’s side. In truth, it could have been double figures.
This time around, the fixture was played in Heath’s impressive new facility, the fourth league game to be played since the keys were finally handed over in the summer.
Not only were the surroundings vastly improved, but so was Hassocks’ showing as they went down 2-1 to a Bears side who could well be dark horses in this season’s Premier Division title race.
The Bears are riding the crest of a wave currently, in part due to the significant boost that High Wood Hill is providing. They’re unbeaten there so far and playing in front of vastly increased crowds which have so far pushed them into second in the Premier Division’s average attendance table.
As for the actual league table, Heath are flying in that too. This victory took them into third spot, three points behind joint leaders Eastbourne Town and Lancing.
Those two clubs provided the opposition in Hassocks’ two previous league outings, which goes some way towards explaining why the Robins are currently floundering towards the wrong end of the table.
Mark Dalgleish and his men are in the midst of not only a desperately hard run of games, but a congested fixture list too.
They’ve played six times in the past three weeks, taking on the Premier Division’s top three and having two FA Cup clashes with Isthmian League side Chipstead.
Keeping players fresh during such an intense schedule is a tough ask at the best of times, let alone when you’re taking on such quality opposition.
Dalgleish shuffled his pack here, resting several players ahead of Saturday’s FA Vase clash with Horley Town. The most eye-catching selection decision saw 18-year-old goalkeeper James Earl come in for his Hassocks debut in place of Josh Green.
Earl arrived in the summer from Eastbourne Borough, for whom he made a couple of first teams appearances from the bench last season.
He’s already impressed in the Robins’ Under 23s opening two fixtures and gave a good account of himself on his first start at senior level.
There were two saves of particular note, both from the lively Jamie Taylor. The first saw Earl do well to get behind Taylor’s scissor kick volley, the improvisation of which could easily have caught the goalkeeper out while the second was smart rather spectacular.
Hassocks’ other changes saw Dan Stokes start at right back in place of Harvey Blake, Arni Kublickas come in for Harry Mills and Jack Rowe-Hurst replace James Littlejohn.
Liam Benson was also named among the Hassocks substitutes having re-joined the club just three months after his summer move to Steyning Town.
Aside from that Taylor volley, chances were few and far between in the first half. Rowe-Hurst had the only other opportunity worth mentioning but his effort was blocked by Heath’s Connor Evento, himself a former Hassocks Under 23 goalkeeper.
The second half was a different story with Heath flying out of the traps to set the tempo for what was to come – and that positivity saw them take the lead within five minutes of the restart.
The Robins failed to convincingly clear a George Cousins effort with Max Howell cracking the lose ball into the bottom corner of Earl’s goal from 15 yards.
Hassocks’ response was impressive and they were level within nine minutes. An excellent corner delivery was met by Ben Bacon who just got his head to the ball in front of Evento for his third goal of the campaign.
The Robins were on top for the next five minutes with Heath’s centre backs of Lee Carney and Josh Tuck – another ex-Robin – resorting to increasingly desperate measures to repel the visitors’ attacks.
That was until Heath notched what turned out to be the winner, completely against the run of play. No prizes for guessing who scored it, Taylor finally managing to find a way past Earl with a stunning volley from a Jamie Robinson cross.
Hassocks threw on Benson and Littlejohn in response and despite spending the final five minutes camped in Heath’s half, they couldn’t find a way through.
Hassocks: James Earl; Dan Stokes, Dan Jacques, Arni Kublickas, Andy Whittingham; Will Broomfield, Matt Berridge; Jack Troak, Jack Rowe-Hurst, Jamie Hillwood; Ben Bacon.
Subs: James Littlejohn, Liam Benson (used), Ben O’Leary, Josh Green (unused).
