HASSOCKS BEATEN BY HEATED HORSHAM YMCA
Last season, Horsham YMCA and Hassocks Under 23s went toe-to-toe in a gladiatorial battle for the Southern Combination League West Division title.
The two were neck-and-neck for virtually the entire season until YM pulled clear in the mid April, eventually going on to win their first championship by eight points.
There seems little danger of a repeat of that contest this time around. While YM have continued where they left off to arrive at the Beacon in second spot, Hassocks came into the clash having lost their past three league games in succession.
An away win looked the most likely result then and although YM did return to Gorings Mead with all three points, it perhaps wasn’t as straightforward as they’d have liked.
The final score was 2-1, the visitors having to come from behind having gone into half time trailing 1-0 to George Galbraith-Gibbons early strike.
Tempers flared towards the end too and that resulted in YM finishing the game with nine men. Substitute Rhys Nashe saw red in the 87th minute and he was followed into the changing rooms by teammate Jack Ryder who was dismissed in the seventh minute of injury time.
That completed an interesting night for both those individuals as they’d also been YM’s men on the score sheet earlier in the second half.
Dave John made six changes from his side who’d lost 4-2 at Lancing a fortnight ago as a number of first team players stepped up their returns from injury, providing some light at the end of a very dark tunnel caused by the Robins’ unavailability crisis.
In came Andy Whittingham, Jack Troak, Harvey Enticknap and Joe Bull, all of whom have been regulars in Mark Dalgleish’s senior squad this season.
John could also call upon the services of Lewis Westlake and Joe Russell, giving a side who have relied largely on teenagers so far this season a much more experienced look.
Having said that, it was one of the younger players on show for the hosts in Galbraith-Gibbons who opened the scoring. The 19-year-old striker struck with just seven minutes on the clock for his third goal of the campaign.
That seemed to shock the champions and it was only after the break that they came back into the tie. Whatever was said at half time clearly had the desired effect as the second half was just five minutes old when Ryder levelled things up.
What proved to be the winner came on 61 minutes from substitute Nash, after which the game became a slightly heated affair.
Referee Steve Weller’s pencil had received a bit of warm up prior to those two late red cards as both Leon Eales and Mitch Clark also entered the book with cautions in the 67th and 80th minutes respectively.
Unfortunately for Hassocks, Nashe and Ryder’s dismissals arrived too late in the game to really affect the outcome. The Robins will however get a chance to take advantage of those sendings off – these two sides meet against at Gorings Mead in the Sussex Under 23 Challenge Cup next week, when Nashe and Ryder will both be suspended, offering a quick opportunity for redemption for Hassocks.
Hassocks: Reece Wickwar, Joe Russell, Dan Turner, Max Donaldson, Ben O’Leary, Harvey Enticknap, Lewis Westlake, Jack Troak, Joe Bull, Andy Whittingham, George Galbraith-Gibbons.
Subs: Charlie Alderton, Matt Denyer, Thomas Jupp, Alfie Loversidge.
