SUPER SATURDAY AS ROBINS RESERVES DO THE DOUBLE
It was a super Saturday for Hassocks Reserves as they won both the Sussex County League Reserve Section Premier Division title and the Mid Sussex Senior Cup on the same afternoon.
Down at the Oval, Hassocks’ only rivals for the league championship Eastbourne United Association needed to defeat East Preston by 11 clear goals in their final game of the season to overhaul the Robins at the top of the table.
United could only manage a 4-1 success against EP and so Hassocks were crowned Reserve Section champions for the first time in the club’s history.
News of that result filtered through to Hanbury Park as the Robins’ Mid Sussex Senior Cup final against Division Three outfit Ifield was just about to enter extra time.
The sides were locked at 3-3 but Roy Staughton’s side showed their class in the additional 30 minutes to run out 5-3 winners, securing their second trophy of the season just 30 minutes after receiving confirmation of the first.
Staughton was severely hampered in his team selection for the final by the competition’s cup tie rules. No player who had played more than 12 times for the first team in senior football could take part in the final, meaning that Reserves regulars such as Luke Pawson and Stuart Brown were forced to miss out.
That left Hassocks able to name only three subs. Perhaps as a result, the Robins made hard work of a tie that they could and should have had wrapped up long before extra time was required.
Ifield were limited in ability having only just avoided relegation from Division Three – yet they proved deadly from set pieces, that being the source of all three of their goals.
What felt like their entire village had turned up in Haywards Heath via coach and their big day out got off to the best possible start when Matt Rendell headed home a corner to make it 1-0 after just five minutes.
Tricky winger Aiden Cawtee was the main creative outlet for Ifield in the opening exchanges. It took an early tactical adjustment from Hassocks to quieten Cawtee as the outstanding Arni Kublickas switched from left back to right to take up man marking duties.
After that, the Robins took control. They scored three times, saw a further effort from Neil Kane disallowed and the Robins’ top scorer also had an effort hacked off the line, all before the first half was over.
Hassocks’ first goal of the afternoon came 10 minutes after Ifield’s opener. Kane teed up Sam Palmer, whose effort rattled a post. Josh Hawkes was following up and tapped home for 1-1.
Five minutes later and Hawkes added his and the Robins’ second, hitting a deflected effort past Ifield goalkeeper Ian O’Donnell following another neat pass from Kane.
Man-of-the-match Laurence Robinson scored the goal of the game to make it 3-1 before half time, ghosting past three men before letting rip with an unstoppable effort that arrowed into the top right corner.
That should have been that. Ifield however showed great resilience in the second half, scoring twice more from set piece scenarios. Hassocks also let their opponents off the hook with a glut of wasted opportunities.
Tom Familton notched Ifield’s second with a free header from a corner. The Robins then conceded a cheap and unnecessary free kick out on the right which was whipped into the box for Aaron Smith to meet with a looping header that defied Andy Edwards in the Hassocks goal.
Hawkes saw an effort scrambled off the line to deny him his hat-trick before extra time arrived, substitute James Laing suffered the same fate with a trademark header and Richard Thomas scuffed two chances wide.
Having heard that they were now the new Reserve Premier champions, Hassocks set about their task with renewed vigour in extra time and were completely dominant.
Kane drew two good saves from O’Donnell as well as blasting wastefully over. He did eventually get his goal to give the Robins the lead and it was something of a collector’s item, a rare header at the far post after Laing flicked on a Tom Davess corner.
Ifield’s only chance of the additional 30 minutes saw them thump Edwards’ bar after another free kick into the box wasn’t convincingly dealt with by the Robins.
The frame of the Hassocks goal was still shaking when the Robins wrapped things up. A quick break into the Ifield area saw Kane find Robinson who was cynically hacked.
Nick Pitcher had the chance to make it 5-3 and he duly did so with a confidently dispatched penalty to round off a memorable afternoon as captain Dan Jacques lifted the trophy for Hassocks for the first time since 2003.
Hassocks: Andy Edwards; Ben Palmer, Sam Goodridge, Nick Pitcher, Arni Kublickas; Sam Palmer, Josh Hawkes, Dan Jacques, Laurence Robinson; Richard Thomas, Neil Kane.
Subs: James Laing (S Palmer), Tom Davess (Thomas), Jamie Hillwood (Kane).
Starman: Laurence Robinson.
