Haywards Heath Town held by Eastbourne United – Hassocks showing lodty position is no fluke

Haywards Heath Town 1 Eastbourne Utd 1

SCFL premier

It finished all-square between Haywards Heath Town and Eastbourne United for the second time this season when the sides met at the Hanbury last Saturday.

Despite pre-match doubts that the SCFL premier match would go ahead, the pitch was given the green light meaning the Blues had a shot at improving on their 1-1 draw at the Oval Ground on the opening day of the season.

A new face featured on the bench, highly-rated striker Ben Connolly having joined from Crawley Down Gatwick, a player already familiar with Naim Rouane’s system having played for him during his Lancing spell.

Liam Hendy and Hayden Skerry were back in the Blues side.

Eastbourne had the first chance of the match, Alfie Jones’ save was enough to deny the first effort, and the follow-up shot was put wide of the goal.

Heath’s first major chance came not long. Sam Geard’s through ball left the defender stranded and put Skerry one-on-one with the goalkeeper. His chipped effort beat James Broadbent but landed on the roof of the net.

Some 20 minutes in Eastbourne were awarded a free-kick in a dangerous area, and it couldn’t have been hit any sweeter. The free-kick beat the wall and looked destined for the top corner but Jones kept out the effort in the most spectacular fashion, clawing it on to the post. The attempt was then cleared by the Heath defender to keep the scores level.

Charlie Pitcher had the ball in the back of the net when United failed to clear their lines from a corner. The ball landed to the Blues’ No9 who scrambled it over the line, but the linesman’s flag was straight up to rule it out for offside which meant it was goalless at the break.

Connolly replaced Charlie Pitcher for his Heath debut in the 58th minute, and two minutes later some Skerry magic put Haywards Heath ahead. From out on the right-hand side, he cut in on his left and unleashed a rocket shot which was only going one place – the back of the net.

Eastbourne United fought back and, despite more brilliant saves from Jones, they found a leveller in the 83rd minute.

The sides had to settle for a draw come the whistle after a game which had it all.

- WAYNE EMERSON

Hassocks 2 Peacehaven & Telscombe 0

SCFL premier

Anyone who still thinks Hassocks sitting third in the Southern Combination League Premier Division is some sort of fluke will surely have had to reassess that view in light of the past week.

On Saturday, the Robins picked up only their second victory in 17 years at the Saffrons when beating sixth placed Eastbourne Town 3-0. Tuesday night then brought a 2-0 win against Peacehaven & Telscombe, opponents whom Hassocks had defeated just four times in 21 league matches this century.

Two goals in the space of five minutes just past the hour mark saw off the Tye to leave Hassocks in the thick of the play-off race as the campaign hurtles towards its halfway point.

Much of the talk before kick off in the Beacon Clubhouse centred on 17-goal top scorer Liam Benson being absent from the starting XI having accepted an offer to join Haywards Heath Town.

While the Robins stick to their long-held ethos of not paying players, they will always be susceptible to losing important individuals like Benson to rival clubs.

But the more results like this Hassocks pull off and the longer they remain in the promotion picture, the stronger the case James Westlake builds for a change in approach and a budget to keep the Robins competitive at the top end of the table.

Under-23s forward Julian Durand led the line in place of Benson and was soon into the action, single-handedly creating the first opportunity of the game with two minutes on the clock.

Drew Matthews underestimated the sheer speed of Durand, who put on the afterburners to latch onto an under hit pass back.

Although Durand managed to round Nathan Stroomberg-Clarke, the former Hassocks goalkeeper did just enough to force Durand wide so that the angle was a little too tight and the ball fired into the side netting.

Durand had another chance on 21 minutes when Sean Stephenson cut in from the right and hit a peach of a pass through the middle.

Having shown quick feet which would not look out of place in the Blackpool Ballroom, Durrand escaped Harry Pollard and let fly a clean strike which whistled just over the bar.

Bar a Guy Bolton effort which Fraser Trigwell kept out at his near post on the quarter hour mark, Peacehaven had not really threatened until sparking into life in the final five minutes of the first half.

Henry Blackmore put a free far post header straight at Trigwell from a Harry Docherty cross.

It was then Docherty’s turn to be wasteful with his head, nodding a dangerous George Cook corner over from inside the six yard box.

With the Tye finishing strong, Hassocks were grateful for the interval to ease the pressure.

The start of the second half saw Bradley Tighe replace Harvey Blake. At this point, nobody could have predicted the surreal scenes of celebration Tighe would cause around 15 minutes later.

Before that, Stephenson hit a rasping half volley without breaking stride just wide of the post.

Tighe then produced a lovely impression of Michael Jordan in his Chicago Bulls heyday to get a ball under control with his hand on halfway.

Peacehaven were not impressed and their mood nearly darkened when the Robins swept forward and only a fine block from Matthews prevented a Stephenson shot causing Stroomberg-Clarke problems.

Bygraves made an equally impressive intervention with an outstanding lunge on Billy Oliver at the other end before Hassocks took the lead from the most unlikely of sources - yes, that man Tighe.

Nine years and 192 matches since his Robins debut, the popular stalwart finally opened his account to a mixture of shock and awe.

It was a finish good enough almost to be worth waiting the best part of a decade for, a crisp volley at the far post which gave Stroomberg-Clarke no chance.

The home faithful were still trying to recover from the surprise of seeing Tighe score when tall striker Jamie Wilkes doubled the advantage four minutes later.

When Peacehaven failed to deal with a long ball over the top, the rangy Wilkes nipped in like the absolute fox in the box he is.

Wilkes rounded Stroomberg-Clarke and rolled into the now empty net for his third goal in as many appearances.

The Tye lost their heads a little after that and Trigwell was pretty much untroubled, save for keeping out a decent Blackmore effort.

Stroomberg-Clarke also found himself called into late action after Raging Joe Bull and Pat Harding linked up down the left, resulting in a Super Pat shot from distance which almost caught the Peacehaven number one out at his near post.

Hassocks: Trigwell; Blake, Bygraves, Gunn, Bull; Stephenson, Mundy, Williamson, Harding; Wilkes; Durand. Subs: B Tighe (Blake 45), L Turner (Stephenson 71), Woolven (Durand 84), Loversidge, Fatela (unused).

- SCOTT McCARTHY