Hassocks left to rue missed opportunities in heavy cup defeat

It may seem like an obvious thing to state when the final score was 5-1 to Roffey. This was a match that could easily have finished 5-5 though if the Robins had been able to take their chances.

Unfortunately, they could not and several big opportunities went begging.

Compare that to their Division One visitors who found the back of the net with all five of their shots on target, adding their name in the process to the ever growing list of lower league outfits to have knocked Hassocks out of cup competitions over the past 15 years or so.

That nobody in attendance at the Beacon really considered this a shock tells you everything about where these two clubs are right now.

Hassocks’ young side are struggling for consistency and sit third bottom of the Premier Division.

On their day, the Robins play some good football and can compete with most opponents in their league. The problem is that those days are too rare at the moment.

Roffey meanwhile arrived in Mid Sussex having won seven out of seven. It would be a real surprise if this season does not end in a first ever promotion to the Premier Division.

The appointment of former Broadbridge Heath boss Steve Painter as general manager has seen them attract a squad containing a fair amount of top flight experience and plenty of goals.

Roffey had to weather an early Hassocks storm before they could show their ruthlessness as the Robins passed up not one, not two, but three glorious opportunities to take the lead the opening 30 minutes.

Jordan Badger was the first to go close - closer than anyone else in fact - when his towering header from a perfect Alfie Loversidge corner smashed against the cross bar with Roffey goalkeeper Alfie Hadfield rooted to the spot with nine minutes on the clock.

Badger was one of the Hassocks bright spots on what was his first start for over two years since taking a break from football.

His next contribution came with 22 minutes played when he intercepted a Roffey clearance just inside the visitor’s half, striding forward with purpose before unleashing a lot show from 30 yards which whistled inches wide of the post.

Hassocks felt that Hadfield had got the faintest of touches to turn it behind. If he did, then it was an outstanding piece of shot stopping missed by both linesman and referee, who instead ruled for a goal kick.

Three minutes after that and Loversidge produced a remarkable leap to win a header from a free kick against Roffey’s tallest defender, Brendan Millborrow.

The second ball dropped perfectly to Joe Bull, completely free in the middle of the box who only needed to guide his own header either side of Hadfield. Whilst Bull avoided Hadfield, he unfortunately guided it the wrong side of the post as well.

Those squandered chances were punished when Roffey took the lead with their first meaningful foray forward with half an hour played.

Tiago Andrade showed some trickery on the edge of the box to lay off to Josh Meyer, whose shot deflected up and over Hassocks’ debutant goalkeeper Jacob Campbell off Luke Marshall as he put in a despairing tackle.

Roffey mustered their second attack on 37 minutes and this too resulted in a goal.

A passing move instigated by the impressive Dan Pearse cut through the Robins like the proverbial knife slicing warm butter, finished off by Kelvin Lucas.

There was an interesting interpretation of the offside law for the third which arrived eight minutes into the second half.

Lucas had been in an offside position when Badger headed clear a long ball over the top, which the Roffey man then collected, advanced with and beat Campbell with a clinical effort.

In the face of Hassocks appeals, the linesman said that Lucas had not been interfering with play. Answers on a postcard as to how scoring a goal is deemed not interfering with play, please.

Josh Short was just wide with a bicycle kick as Hassocks to their credit kept going. The fourth goal they conceded summed their evening up nicely, Jack Gardner’s attempted clearance ricocheting into Marshall to allow Jamie Wanstall to finish into the opposite corner.

Maher completed Roffey’s scoring when Hassocks fell asleep and allowed him to drift in unnoticed from the left flank to collect a low pass across the edge of the box, drilling his effort into the bottom corner.

When Hassocks did eventually manage to score, it was a gift from Roffey. Hadfield got in a mess as the visitors attempted to pass it around the box with four minutes remaining and in an attempt to rectify the situation, hauled down substitute George Mitchell-Phillips. Mitchell-Phillips dusted himself down to convert the penalty.

Hassocks, who were also beaten 5-0 at home by Newhaven in the SCFL Premier on Saturday, host third-placed Little Common this Saturday.