FA Cup: Lancing and Eastbourne United through – Hassocks must play it again

Lancing 5 Rusthall 0

by Dave Wilmott

David Altendorff kept faith with the same starting XI who started in the away friendly against Horsham and who contributed to an excellent 3-1 win. This meant a first appearance for the Lancers at Culver Road for exciting young prospect Charlie Gibson and a return for Sam Bull, who had featured previously, until being called from his loan by Eastbourne Borough.

Lancing v Rusthall in pictures.

Lancing began on the front foot and penned The Rustics back on to the defensive. Harry Heath’s pace got him to within a whisker of reaching a through ball into the heart of the box but keeper Tommy Lawrence was quick to spot the danger and scoop the ball away. Charlie Bennett, who has already shown in pre-season that he can attack as well as defend, went on a promising run to the by-line but the ball ran out just of play.

Pagham v East Grinstead FA Cup picture gallery.

With only six minutes gone Lancing had the ball over the line after Harry Heath hit a good cross into the six-yard box, following a pacy run down the left, but he had been flagged offside. Shortly afterwards, Bennett was on the end of a 30-yard free-kick from Andrew Briggs and his close-range effort was kept out by Lawrence. The ball was only half cleared reaching Harry Heath who was able to hit the target but without troubling the keeper.

After soaking up the pressure for 10 minutes, The Rustics made their first serious inroad into the Lancing final third. Mike Miller broke down the right, passing to right back Louis Anderson making an overlapping run. His cross was well held by Alieu Secka. This was followed by a good header from a free-kick but Alieu Secka was able to watch it go well wide of the upright.

There was a scare for Lancing on the 13th minute mark when centre forward George Hughes found himself free inside the box with only Alieu Secka to beat but his mis control allowed the ball to run through to the Lancing keeper.

Lancing maintained their attacking momentum with Lukas Franzen-Jones looking to reach the ball inside the box but The Rustics centre back was able to get to the ball in time to head it calmly back to his keeper.

The breakthrough for The Lancers came on 15 minutes. George Taggart won possession midway in the opposition half, shrugged off a challenge and hit a low drive to the keeper’s left. It looked as if Lawrence would be able to keep the ball out but in the wet conditions, he failed to hold it, allowing it to cross the line.

Harry Heath continued to look a threat for Lancing on the left and was forging a good partnership with Charlie Gibson. These two combined with Gibson receiving a pass inside the full back from Heath who made strides into the box to receive the ball back before finishing with an effort which he bent just wide of the far post.

Lancing were rewarded for their dominance with a second goal on 24 minutes. It was almost a carbon copy of the first. George Taggart was found in space by Andrew Briggs and he took a couple of strides forward before delivering a shot low to the keeper’s left and, again, allowing the ball to squirm through his hands and into the net.

Five minutes later Lancing came close to increasing their lead. Alex Laing hit a fine cross from wide on the right which reached Lukas Franzen-Jones on the far post. He swung at the ball which hit the inside of the post rebounding to the keeper. Lancing then won a corner on the left which was laid back to George Taggart.

He hit a superb cross which dropped dangerously close to the far post. Charlie Bennett was able to get his head to it but unable to direct it towards the goal.

The Rustics had made shown some good attacking play, particularly from Addo Amankwah, wide on the left but the Lancing back four of Bennett, Watson, Bull and Gibson were hard to break down and in one-on-one situations usually came out on top with some sound tackling.

George Hughes, once again, found himself free in the box but his control deserted him once more and the ball ran harmlessly to Alieu Secka. The Rustics looked to have provided themselves with another goal opportunity when Sam Bull was dispossessed at the edge of the box but he was fouled in the process and a free-kick awarded. Tariq Ibrahim tried to catch Alieu Secka unawares from 30 yards but, although Alieu was at full stretch the ball was always going wide.

Lancing continued to take the game to the Rustics and this brought the first caution issued to Jeffrey Njunguna for fouling George Taggart to prevent him breaking forward. Another promising move from Lancing saw Lukas Franzen-Jones executing a clever touch of the ball to Harry Heath but his dash towards goal was ended with a fine tackle from Dan Blann.

Alieu Secka was in action at the start of the second half, making a good save but it did not take long for Lancing to kill off any chance of The Rustics making any sort of comeback. Harry Heath and Charlie Gibson linked up again down the left with Charlie’s cross being cut out for a corner. A superb delivery put the ball close to the goal line, coming off a defender into the goal, with the half barely three minutes old. At this point Sam Bull was forced off, having sustained a knock to his ankle late in the first half. Kyle Sim came on to replace him.

With just under 30 minutes to go, Alex Plummer replaced Alex Laing quickly followed by Callum Dowdell coming on for Lukas Franzen-Jones. This allowed Harry Heath to occupy a more central attacking role and this soon paid dividends as he seized his opportunity to aim for the target from a couple of yards outside the box putting the ball way out of the keeper’s reach.

Callum Dowdell was able to show his threat using pace and close control, twisting and turning as he approached the six-yard box finishing with a shot which came close to going in at the far post.

The icing on the cake came on the 88th minute with a deserved goal for the dynamic Andrew Briggs. Harry Heath was again able to use his pace to get in behind the defence. The ball found was teed up for Andrew Briggs who took careful aim to produce an excellent finish.

Alieu Secka had experienced a quiet second half but had he switched off, he would have been caught out with a well struck free-kick arrowing towards the top corner. But Alieu was as alert as ever and was able to make a fine save, pushing the ball behind for a corner. His final act was to hold on to the resulting corner which was well driven in towards the goal.

A very satisfying performance for The Lancers, picking up where they left off at Horsham. The work rate right throughout the team meant that The Rustics were being stopped in their tracks with The Lancers closing down quickly to win the ball back whenever possession was lost. There is also evidence of goal scoring instincts from several players.

MoM: Harry Heath.

Lancing Starting XI: Alieu Secka, Charlie Bennett, Charlie Gibson, Sam Bull, Henry Watson, Andrew Briggs, Tyrone Madhani, Alex Laing (Capt.), Lukas Franzen-Jones, George Taggart, Harry Heath. Substitutes: Will Berry, Jaevon Dyer, Kyle Sim, Dan Hull, Callum Dowdell, Alex Plummer, James Hull.

Haywards Heath Town crashed out of the FA Cup at the first stage – losing 5-0 at home to Whitstable. See Ray Turner’s pictures from the match in the slideshow in the video player.

Phoenix Sports 1 Eastbourne United 2

Following an absolute deluge in south east London, United were not certain this Emirates FA Cup tie was going to start on time. Ten minutes before scheduled kick-off the downpour relented, the clouds cleared and a perfect surface for football appeared.

Last time United played Phoenix Sports was during the legendary FA Vase run, when they beat them 4-3 at The Oval. A decade on, and Phoenix have spent all but one season in the isthmian League, while United went from SCFL Division 1 to Premier and have remained there since.

As the match got underway, Phoenix looked to boss things without really threatening James Broadbent’s goal. The first opportunity fell to United’s Helder Borges DaMoura, who was unable to convert. On 20 minutes, Phoenix missed a sitter from a corner.

This seemed to kick United into gear and within 90 seconds George Olulode stung the hands of home keeper Andy Walker. He was unable to gather the shot and Callum Barlow pounced to make it 1-0 to United. United, buoyed by the goal, pushed harder and looked the more likely to score.

Great work from 16-year-old Koby Farrell and Mason Creese kept up the pressure on the home defence, and Olulode marshalled the midfield brilliantly.

Phoenix came out for the second half in fighting mood, but once again were largely ineffective against United’s well organised defence. Olulode picked up a yellow on the hour for a reckless tackle, the first of five for United as the home team pushed.

Quebe and the excellent Charlie Ball both went close, and Sam Cole hit the post as United looked to secure their lead. With just four minutes of normal time left on the clock, a deflected shot hit squirmed past Broadbent. The referee immediately signalled nine minutes of injury time.

United showed a never-say-die attitude and with just two minutes left, up popped that man Olulode again, this time on the edge of the box, to smash past Walker and book a visit from Shearwater to the Oval in the next round on August 19.

Phoenix Sports are a well-run club, gracious in defeat, and hospitable to the travelling fans to the end. United looked very well drilled and capable of doing good things this season.

This Saturday United welcome Shoreham to the Oval in an SCFL premier fixture.

Hassocks 1 Erith Town 1

We might only be three games into the 2023-24 football campaign, but Hassocks can probably give out their Goal of the Season award right now. The Robins’ Emirates FA Cup Extra Preliminary Qualifying tie against Erith Town was 17 minutes old when Joe Bull picked up possession 38 yards out.

Nobody expected Bull to shoot, save for one lonely voice in the Maurice Boxall Stand which said “Shoot” too quietly to be convincing. Bull’s first touch was perfect, setting himself inside and into space to unleash a frankly unbelievable strike into the very top corner. The noise which greeted the goal said it all. There were no cheers of celebration reserved for Hassocks connections; instead the entire ground, home and away support, let out a combined “OOOOH.”

It was a strike good enough to win any game of football. Unfortunately for the Robins, it merely counted as an equaliser after Henry Arnold had opened the scoring seven minutes earlier. No further goals meant it finished 1-1. The sides will now meet again on Tuesday night at Stanmore Stadium to decide who progresses to face either Burgess Hill Town or Sutton Common Rovers on August 19 in preliminary qualifying.

In terms of both weather and quality, this was very much a game of two halves. A richly entertaining first 45 minutes were played out under dark clouds and near-biblical rainfall. The sun made an appearance after the break but the quality of football dropped off, so much so that a young supporter riding a unicycle around the perimeter path provided much of the interest. Non-league football at its finest.

Plenty of action was packed into the opening exchanges, mainly involving Liam Benson. The Hassocks striker had a shot blocked within 120 seconds of kick off before twice escaping the attentions of the Erith back line to latch onto through balls. Benson was off target with one and earned a corner with the other.

It was somewhat against the run of play when the Dockers took the lead with 10 minutes on the clock. Matt Gunn put in a heavy challenge on Ollie Milton, causing everyone in close attention to stop awaiting the award of a free kick. Everyone except Arnold, that is. The Dockers forward chased down the loose ball which had spun into the Robins box, beat Fraser Trigwell to it and rounded the Hassocks goalkeeper before firing home.

James Dyer almost doubled the lead for Erith a few minutes later, skipping past two challenges before blasting narrowly over. Next came Bull’s spectacular leveller. James Westlake collected a Bradley Tighe throw on the right and between the player head coach, Pat Harding and Jack Troak, possession was worked across the pitch to Bull at left back. You already know about the rest.

A little of the shine was taken off the equaliser four minutes later when Troak landed awkwardly after challenging for a header. Following lengthy treatment from Hassocks physio Jay Patel, Troak walked from he field and was whisked off to hospital. X-rays there revealed a fractured collarbone. Little wonder Troak kicked the downward guttering of the Clubhouse out of frustration as he swapped an afternoon at the Beacon for a visit to the Princess Royal.

Kyle Woolven took over from Troak and was almost involved in setting up a goal with his first touch, splitting the Erith defence with a pass into the path of the advancing Tighe on the right. Tighe flashed a low ball across the box which nobody in red could quite convert.

A bizarre incident saw Milton booked for hugging Trigwell after the Hassocks goalkeeper won a footrace to a through ball. The same pair then faced off again. Not only did Trigwell do really well to claw away from the feet of the Erith striker, but he also managed to get up, chase down and leather the loose ball out for a throw as it escaped his box.

Neither Trigwell nor opposite number Mackenzie Foley were particularly worked after the interval with it taking 24 minutes for the first chance of the second half to arrive. Dyer showed further nifty footwork to glide past two challenges, only to fire wide.

Hassocks introduced new signing Alex Fair from the bench along with Alex Brewer, ending the game with four strikers on the pitch. No headway could be made in an attempt to avoid a midweek trip to Thameside however, and it was the Dockers who finished stronger. Substitute Alfie Eldridge should have done better when dragging wide from six yards before Bull capped a starman performance with a brilliantly timed last ditch sliding tackle to nick the ball off Arnold just as he was about to pull the trigger.

Hassocks: Trigwell; B Tighe, Gunn, Bygraves, Bull; Frankland, J Westlake, Wilkes, Troak; Harding, Benson. Subs: Woolven (Troak 21), Fair (Frankland 72), Brewer (Benson 81), Blake, Bacon, Geard, S Smith (unused).