Hassocks undone by Nuts & Bolts in Isthmian League reality check
Winter is coming and with it the reality of just how tough a division Isthmian South East is for Hassocks following the initial honeymoon period at the start of their first step four season.
Ashford United rocked up in Mid Sussex sitting 22nd in the table, six points behind the Robins - and based on conversations heard around the Hassocks Hotel Beacon Ground, paying one player more per week than James Westlake’s entire squad get in appearance fees put together.
And that explains why the Nuts & Bolts made light of their current lowly league position to run out 4-2 winners.
The disparity in resources and club size between Hassocks and some of the genuine giants of non-league football found at this level such as Ashford is massive, meaning difficult afternoons like this were always going to be par for the course following promotion.
Less than 60 seconds had elapsed when the Nuts & Bolts took the lead. Mike West latched into a ball over the top and fired past James Shaw. It was a goal so quick that it beat the Ashford camera crew pressing record on their filming, meaning the Nuts & Bolts missed it from their match highlights package.
They were not the only ones. Plenty of spectators were still in the Clubhouse when West struck, delaying their exit as long as possible to shelter from the rain which started hammering down just before kick off.
Hassocks equalised midway through the first half when Lewis Finney took advantage of some hesitant Ashford defending.
Josh Mundy did well to gain possession in midfield and patiently wait for a passing option to become available. That option was eventually Harvey Blake, who received a lay back from Mundy and dinked a first time ball over the Nuts & Bolts back line.
Morgan Vale gave chase whilst Craig Stone and William Moses both attempted to converge on it before pulling out and leaving it for the other one to deal with. Finney duly stole in to produce a calm one-on-one finish beyond visiting goalkeeper Roshan Greensall.
The scores were level for 10 minutes before the outstanding Gary Lockyer took matters into his own hands. Lockyer scored more goals than any other player in the FA Cup last season, finding the back of the net 10 times as Ashford made it within two games of the first round proper.
It earned Lockyer a trip to the final between Crystal Palace and Manchester City, where he carried the match ball onto the pitch and was presented with a golden boot award by Glenn Murray.
Sure to be almost as memorable as that day at Wembley were his two goals in the last 11 minutes of the first half here which took the game away from Hassocks. Lockyer earned a penalty when his driving run into the box was illegally halted by a Shay Leahy sliding tackle. Shaw went the right way but the spot kick had too much power and precision.
Lockyer struck again on 44 minutes to move Ashford 3-1 ahead. Sam Hasler sent a diagonal aerial pass forward from just inside the Hassocks half.
There seemed little danger as the ball headed towards the edge of the box, only for Lockyer to produce a superb piece of chest control to escape Raging Joe Bull. He then hit a shot on the swivel which arrowed into the bottom corner past a disbelieving Shaw.
Moses proved much more decisive firing home the fourth Ashford goal with 64 played than he had at the other end of the pitch in the build up to the Finney leveller which, by this point, felt like it had come a lot longer than just one hour earlier.
A low free kick from Hasler found its way to the feet of Moses, whose shot parted a red sea of shirts through a crowded box to find the back of the net.
The Robins kept plugging away and found a second consolation via Charlie Pitcher just three minutes after he came off the bench as part of a double change alongside debutant Rudy Jones, newly signed after a spell in Spain with Vandalia de Peligros.
Pitcher had already gone close when drawing a good save from Greensall via an acrobatic effort from a Bull corner. Ashford failed to heed that warning and Bull delivered again, Pitcher this time beat Greensall via a close range overhead kick.
Hassocks: Shaw; Blake, Turner, Hendy, Bull; Henry, Mundy, Leahy, Troak; Finney; Vale. Subs: Theodore (Leahy 61), Pitcher (Vale 73), Jones (Finney 73), Enticknap (Mundy 84), Gunn (used).