Abdsami lashes home the only goal as Hassocks leave Lingfield with a sixth consecutive win

Not many who watched Hassocks thrash Lingfield 5-1 on the opening day of the campaign would have predicted the return match at Church Road would take place with the Robins sitting fourth and the hosts fifth in the Southern Combination Premier Division.

Lingfield have improved markedly over the past three months to put themselves firmly in the playoff picture - making this 1-0 victory for Hassocks one of the Robins' most impressive results of the season.

"A brilliant win," was how James Westlake described it afterwards. "This is a really hard place to come and play football. Not many teams will come here this season and not only win the game but also keep a clean sheet like we have done today."

The shutout was particularly impressive given Lingfield came into the fixture as the second-highest scorers in the league so far this season after Eastbourne United.

Ed Cooper made one outstanding double save late in the first half but Hassocks kept the home side relatively quiet other than that. It was a formidable performance defensively from the Robins.

A scrappy first half was lacking in quality on a playing surface which is more 1G than 3G. Omar Abdsami looked the most likely player to break the deadlock for Hassocks in the opening 45 minutes.

He had an early shot deflected over the bar and then drilled a low effort into the diving arms of Mac Chisholm after tall striker Jamie Wilkes badgered to win possession from a half-cleared Lewis Finney free kick.

Dan Turner struck a rasping volley just wide in-between those two Abdsami chances. Lingfield had their first real sight of goal when Gabriel Odunaike managed to get in one-on-one but could only fire a long way over the bar.

Next came that brilliant intervention from Cooper. Lingfield's 14-goal top scorer Kwesi Ntim tricked his way in from the left flank to draw a full stretch save on the angle out of Cooper.

The rebound fell kindly for Callum Corbin, who looked to have picked out the top corner with a powerful shot until Cooper somehow recovered and appeared from nowhere to push away the follow up.

At the start of the second half, the weather became almost as gloomy as the surroundings. Over to Adsami to brighten things up with a spectacular goal out of nothing on 53 minutes.

Blake pushed forward from right back and delivered a cross which was cleared only as far as Abdsami on the edge of the box.

Abdsami was surrounded by red and yellow striped shirts but took a touch, managed to wiggle into space and picked out the far corner with a sweeping shot giving Chisholm no chance.

A pretty special way for Abdsami to move onto double figures in his first full season of senior football.

Lingfield enjoyed a good spell after that in which they had plenty of the ball but could find no way through. Turner produced a fine piece of defending to clear away a cross which otherwise might have left Ntim with a tap in at the back post.

Otherwise, the Lingers' settled for wayward shooting from distance which posed more danger to home fans in the stand behind the goal than Cooper.

Having weathered the mini storm, it was Hassocks who finished the stronger. Lingfield committed more players forward in the closing stages and that left gaps for the Robins to exploit on the counter.

A tight offside call prevented Big Alex Fair from doubling the lead. Good hold up play from Liam Benson saw him slip Fair in for a clinical finish past Chisholm ruled out by the flag. The fact Fair took the decision with unusually good grace suggests the assistant made the correct call.

Fair then sent a header from a Finney corner towards the top corner. The Lingfield player on the near post did a remarkable job in heading it off the line to ensure his side remained in the tie.

Hassocks managed to get the ball back into the box where Benson was denied by a block and substitute Luke Brodie shot just wide from the rebound.

The Robins kept pushing and managed to rack up a couple more corners. Another taken by Finney was headed on target by Turner.

This time Chisholm pulled off a superb save to claw it out. Brodie retrieved possession and fed Fair to go around two defenders inside the area, only for a third to block his eventual shot.

Not that Hassocks needed a second goal. The full time whistle blew shortly after, followed by some strange scenes as the teams trooped off when one of the Lingfield coaching staff was accused of grabbing Turner's hand and biting it.

It was an unusual ending for a game which featured only one yellow card and showed little edge to it. Turner typically took it all in his stride as the Robins headed home chewing on a sixth consecutive win in all competitions.

Hassocks: Ed Cooper; Harvey Blake, Dan Turner, Liam Hendy, Joe Bull; Jamie Wilkes, Lewis Finney; Alex Fair, Omar Abdsami, Joe Turner; Liam Benson.

Subs: Darren Budd, Luke Brodie, Ruari Farrell (used), Lewis Croal, Charlie Bonwick-Adams (unused).

Starman: Harvey Blake. The whole back four were marvellous but the Hassocks captain just edged it.