STOP-START SEASON CONTINUES AS ROBINS SUFFER ANOTHER LOSS
Hassocks Under 23’s stop-start season continued as they went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat away at East Preston.
Jamie Carroll notched the only goal of the game as the Robins lose-win-lose-win sequence saw another loss added after last week’s 3-2 success against Selsey.
The final score at the Lashmar also happened to be exactly the same as last time these sides met in the final game of the previous campaign when EP ran out winners at the Beacon.
On that occasion, the visitors needed the three points to guarantee a third placed finish in the West Division. Hassocks meanwhile had already secured the runners up spot behind Horsham YMCA.
That didn’t mean there was nothing for the Robins to play for though – after all, there was the small matter of avenging their 3-1 defeat to EP in the semi finals of the League Cup a month previously.
Two wins out of three last year – the other clash saw Hassocks triumph 3-1 at the Lashmar just prior to Christmas – meant that EP dominated the fixture and this really was a continuation of that.
Dave John was forced into making five changes from the side that had knocked off Selsey seven days ago. One of those absentees was Dan Turner who picked up a serious arm injury in the victory over the Blues and he could be out for some time, a significant blow for the 19-year-old who had been voted the first team’s man-of-the-match 48 hours previously in the Sussex RUR Charity Cup defeat to Pagham.
James Earl played alongside Turner in that and he was back in goal after three first team appearances at the expense of Reece Wickwar.
Also missing were Kieran Dimelowe, Ben Jonas and Ben O’Leary with Jack Gardner, Luke Marshall, Harvey Ransome and Joe Bull all coming into the starting line up.
Crucially, John could call upon his Benjamin Button strike force of Liam Benson and Louis Pople, Benson having scored three times in two appearances since his return to the Beacon from Steyning Town.
Despite having such an experienced strike force, they could find no way past a determined EP backline who hung on to claim a deserved clean sheet.
Carroll’s strike decided the tie and came at the end of a good week for the youngster who’d been given his senior debut on Tuesday night in EP’s 3-1 Premier Division loss at Horley Town.
Hassocks: James Earl, Solly Ross, Thomas Jupp, Luke Marshall, Joe Bull, Joe Russell, Harvey Ransome, Jack Gardner, George Galbraith-Gibbons, Louise Pople, Liam Benson.
Subs: Alfie Loversidge, Matt Denyer, Steve Bright, Joe Tatford (used).
