Nine different scorers in a nine nil win - a unique night as Hassocks sink Shoreham in Peter Bentley Cup

Nine goals, nine different goal scorers. Hassocks racked up a pretty unique feat in their 9-0 victory over Shoreham in the Peter Bentley League Cup with a win which also equalled their biggest ever in senior football.

Hitting the target in time-order were Liam Benson, Jamie Wilkes, Jack Troak, Devon Fender, Alex Fair, Harvey Blake, Omar Abdsami, Joe Turner and Lewis Croal.

Several players on that list probably should have walked off with braces or hat-tricks. That would have allowed the Robins to eclipse their club-record 9-0 win over Shinewater Association in the second round of the Sussex RUR Charity Cup from the 2000-01 season.

But at the same time, it would have ruined the aesthetically pleasing look of nine goals and nine scorers. It would also have been harsh on a very young Shoreham side who to their credit, kept battling until the final whistle despite the situation they found themselves in.

New Musselmen boss Alex Laing named a team almost exclusively of Under 23s players. Laing has made some big signings in his two weeks in the job including ex-Robins Harvey Enticknap, George Brown and Sam Geard but the selection showed this competition is a long way down his priority list. 

The quality of those additions should not just get Shoreham out of the mess they find themselves in towards the bottom of Southern Combination Division One but power them a long way up the standings over the coming months.

Still, Hassocks could only beat what was put in front of them. The Robins swarmed forward from the first whistle and almost scored three times even before they took a 12th minute lead through Benson.

Shoreham goalkeeper Declan McDonald denied Wilkes with his legs and then got down well at his near post to claw out a Blake shot from a Charlie Bonwick-Adams cut back.

Benson seemed certain to net from the next Hassocks attack after doing brilliantly to round McDonald and shoot from a tight angle. Somehow though, Josh Hooper covered around to make an outrageous sliding clearance off the line.

Little did Hooper know the remainder of his goal-saving interventions would come wearing the gloves thanks to McDonald limping off with a leg injury on 35 minutes.

Fender took the corner resulting from the Hooper block, Fair volleyed towards goal and Benson ended up diverting the ball past McDonald to open the floodgates.

Four minutes later and goal two arrived. The build up was pretty scrappy as Darren Budd, Fair and Troak all had to contrive to dig the ball out to Wilkes.

The tall striker subsequently produced a lovely finish bent into the far corner from the 18 yard box. It must have been nice for the rangy Wilkes in particular to be on the right end of a 9-0 drubbing given some of his past experiences in Sunday League football.

Shoreham manged to survive 14 minutes without conceding again. In that time, Fair did magnificently to go around three players and give a teammate a tap in. Sadly, no-one was on the end of it.

Fair next managed to work some space coming inside and unleashed a shot from 40 yards. We have seen these go in before but this one posed more danger to the passing Thameslink train from Brighton to Bedford.

McDonald then made an outrageous finger tip save from point blank range to turn a Troak shot over. Fender took the subsequent corner and his in-swinging delivery smashed into the bar.

Fender opted to work a short corner routine from his next set piece on the half hour mark. This proved to be an excellent decision as he and Budd conspired to get a delivery towards Troak, whose header looped into the far corner for the third.

Benson almost ruined the one-goal-per-player thing when spinning his man with a superb piece of skill and then finishing clinically past McDonald. The flag went up for offside which seemed like a very tight decision in the opinion of those in-line with it.

McDonald was unable to continue immediately after that. Visiting defender Luke Bryant was absolutely begging the Shoreham bench to let him take over in goal and his attitude was infectious to both home and away fans on the Clubhouse side.

The Musselmen instead opted to give Hooper the thankless task. There was nothing he could do when Fender added the fourth five minutes later via a lovely finish from the edge of the box after a Benson cut back.

Hooper soon showed he was no fool between the posts with a good double save from Benson. A terrible goal kick went straight to the Hassocks striker, who made the right decision to take an early shot and test the centre back standing in. Hooper proved equal to it by keeping out the initial effort and showing great reactions from the rebound.

Arguably more problematic than the goalkeeper change was Shoreham could not get to grips with Bonwick-Adams down the right.

The young wing back teed up Fair for goal five on the stroke of half time with another cut back to the edge of the box. Fair rattled his effort in via the crossbar to continue his fine scoring record against his former club.

Wilkes was withdrawn at the break and Charlie Martin followed suit just two minutes after the restart when he went down.

Martin probably could have continued but there was no need for Hassocks to take any risks. Shoreham were not spared by the substitutions either as Lewis Finney and Lewis Croal came on.

Another three Robins players had to be replaced on 53 minutes after suffering shock at Blake scoring. It was certainly a worthwhile collector's item as the Hassocks captain bent an effort from 30 yards into the top corner for his first goal since April 2024.

Hendy, Fender and Bonwick-Adams were all withdrawn in disbelief. Abdsami, Turner and Raging Joe Bull took over amid some musical chairs which resulted in Troak marking another position off his bingo card as he played as a sweeper for the first time in his life.

Abdsami made it 7-0 on 63 minutes followed by at least five people shouting “SEVEEEENNN” in the style of Len Goodman. The last N of that word was still reverberating around when Turner smashed home the eighth from 12 yards out after Finney tricked and teased his way to the by-line.

There were still 24 minutes left to play at that point. Hassocks only added one more although it was not through a lack of trying as the Robins remained relentless in their work rate and pressing.

Hooper made good saves from Croal, Benson and Finney. Those interventions looked like they might be enough to prevent Hassocks equalling that Shinewater success from 26 years ago until Croal added the ninth with four minutes remaining.

It was a masterclass in how to use a low centre of gravity. Croal rolled Musselmen substitute Freddie Dawson to get a shot away. When that was blocked, he turned away from Louie Day before drilling across Hooper from a tight angle.

“We want 10” sung the young Robins fans behind the goal. But no further goals were added in the final four minutes plus injury time. Nine scorers is enough in any case.

Hassocks: Cooper; Blake, Hendy, Troak; Bonwick-Adams, Wilkes, Budd, Fender, Fair; Martin, Benson.

Subs: Finney (Wilkes 46), Croal (Martin 48), Bull (Hendy 53), J Turner (Bonwick-Adams 53), Abdsami (Fender 53).