December 2019’s wet weather wiped out a whole host of fixtures, restricting Hassocks to just two Southern Combination League Premier Division outings.
The first of those was a huge game as the Robins travelled to fellow strugglers East Preston. Ahead of the trip to the Lashmar, Hassocks hadn’t won in the league since beating Loxwood 6-2 at the end of September, six games and over two months ago.
EP were 16th in the table, nine points ahead of Hassocks. Defeat for Mark Dalgleish’s side would have left them dangerously adrift in the relegation zone with just two wins to their name and the halfway point of the campaign looming large.
A tense affair sparked into life just before the hour mark when Charlie Williamson gave EP the lead. Hassocks’ response was swift and impressive as former Lokomotiv Plovdiv striker Blagomir Mastagarkov scored his first goal in Hassocks colours with an equaliser five minutes later.
Things could have gone either way at that point. In the end, the game was decided by another first time scorer as Dan Turner chose a timely moment to net his maiden senior goal, powering home a winner with 17 minutes remaining.
A week later and Hassocks faced an altogether tougher task as title chasing Horley Town came to the Beacon. The Clarets had visited Mid Sussex back in September, inflicting what was at that point a heaviest defeat of the season on their hosts when winning 6-1 in the FA Vase.
To only lose 2-0 on this occasion was a sign of the corner that Hassocks had turned in recent weeks. Horley boss Anthony Jupp certainly thought so, saying afterwards, “Hassocks did really well, a massive improvement on last time we met. The first half was very tight, for sure. But play like that for the rest of the season and I think they’ll be fine.”
Russell Harvey opened the scoring for the visitors with 15th minutes played. Tony Halsey added the second six minutes after the restart as some spirited defending from Harvey Blake, Jack Troak, Harry Mills and Dan Turner kept the score at two.
The Under 23s had all their December fixtures rained off but the Under 18s were able to take to the field twice, winning in the Central Division before being eliminated from the League Cup.
That league victory came over Broadbridge Heath. Harrison Lees, Alfie Loversidge, Oliver Charlesworth and Yahya Azizi were on target for the Young Robins in a 4-2 win with the Bears’ consolation goals coming from Leo Anderson and Thomas Edevane.
It was at Central Division leaders Mile Oak that Hassocks’ interest in the League Cup came to an end. Oak were yet to drop a point all season but Hassocks gave them their toughest test so far, pushing them all the way in an enthralling game which ended 3-2 to the hosts.
Azizi and Lees were again on target for Brad Sweetman’s side. Franklin Bendu, Ben Tennant and Matthew Thompson got the goals for Oak.
The Ladies played once, defeating lower league opponents Sittingbourne in the second round of the South East Counties Women’s League Cup.
All the goals at the Beacon came in a mad 11 minute period early in the second half. Rose Jump gave the Robins the lead on 52, Katherine Chappell doubled it on the hour mark with Jade Pennell netting for the visitors with 63 minutes played.
