IT WASN'T Dave John's last game in charge but Saturday's tribute match at the Beacon was fitting recognition of the contribution he and his family have made to Hassocks Football Club over the last 17 years.
Primarily it is the effort of Johnsy as manager and his wife Ann on the catering front that have enabled the club to make the major advances they have in recent years and that was duly recognised by chairman Derek Hurley in his speech before the star
t of the match.
There were flowers for Ann and several gifts for the gaffer - a sculpture of football manager by the bench, a watch, a painting of Johnsy by player Matt Robbins and a book of personal thoughts from club players, officials and supporters about his record tenure as manager.
The longest serving manager in the County League saw his mix of past and present players beaten 4-1 by a County XI including lots of players he had personally requested be included. But really the result, while important enough to the players out there, was secondary to the job of paying tribute to a man whose commitment and service was lauded by chairman Hurley, who underlined what a job the manager has done in bringing through a steady supply of gifted youngsters which has enabled the club to progress despite still not resorting to paying their players.
For the record it could be argued it was 4-1 to the Hassocks Select XI as a Phil Gault own goal and two from Spencer Slaughter helped complete the scoreline. Robbie Kitchen scored for Hassocks and the other Sussex Select XI goal came from Toby Phillips.
The full article contains 282 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
