HUDSON DOUBLE AT THE DEATH HELPS HASSOCKS SEE OFF BROOK
Substitute Jay Hudson was the Hassocks Under 23s hero as his two goals in the final five minutes earned the Robins a 3-2 win against Jarvis Brook.
It was a manic conclusion to a match which ebbed and flowed and could have gone either way with Brook only taking their 2-1 lead as the game entered the last 10.
The result made it two wins in a row for Hassocks, a sign that they are turning the corner after a difficult start to the campaign in which they failed to win any of their opening four matches across all competitions.
What is helping the Robins’ cause is that they are finally enjoying some consistency in selection. Having rattled through 29 different players in the first three games of the season, the Robins are now only making enforced changes.
There were two of those here. Joe Bull was ruled out through the injury he picked up in the first team’s 8-0 defeat at the hands of Horley Town at the weekend and Brad Sweetman joined him in missing out.
Ben O’Leary came back into the starting line up having missed the previous week’s excellent 2-1 victory away at Oakwood with Marshall Smith promoted from the bench.
The last time Hassocks and Jarvis Brook had met in a competitive game had been in the 2011-12 season when the Robins third XI competed alongside Brook in the Mid Sussex League Premier Division. The Robins had won 5-0 on that occasion thanks to a Jamie Hillwood hat-trick and an Alex Strange brace.
Brook have come a long way since then to now be an established Southern Combination League club with this being the first season in which they have entered an Under 23 side. They showed an early glimpse of what they are capable of by opening the scoring through Sam Sales with only 12 minutes on the clock.
The Robins had to be patient after that with their equaliser not arriving until two minutes into the second half as Jamie Wilkes scored his first goal in Hassocks colours following his summer move from St Francis Rangers.
That strike rounded off a good week for Wilkes, who had made an impressive senior debut 48 hours earlier in the 3-1 victory away at Horsham YMCA.
Wilkes was the standout player again here, ably supported by the excellent Ben Hick and Ben O’Leary whilst Hudson obviously shone too for his aforementioned heroics.
Brook could have been forgiven for thinking they were going to make the long journey back to the east of the county with all three points when Alex Hook put them ahead for the second time with 80 minutes on the clock.
Hassocks and Hudson had other ideas however, Hudson levelling things on 85 minutes. The Robins weren’t done there and were rewarded for their determination to win the game when Hudson notched again three minutes later, completing quite the turnaround to earn Hassocks all three points.
Hassocks: Jayden Dunkley, Luke Marshall, Ben O’Leary, Thomas Jupp, Harvey Ransome, Connor Bradley, Ben Hicks, Jamie Wilkes, Marshall Smith, George Galbraith-Gibbons, Lewis Beebee.
Subs: Alex Crawford, Jay Hudson, Shay Leahy, George Mercer (used).
