Hassocks will
have been disappointed not to bring
something home from in-form Selsey, who made
it six wins and only one defeat in their
last 10 games with Saturday's 2-1 victory.
The hosts were
fortunate their far from convincing keeper
Rob Hill was allowed to stay on the pitch
after he brought down Sam Jeremiah and then
to add insult to Robins' injury, Anthony
Hibbert saw his spot kick saved. If that had
been converted it would have put the
visitors 2-1 in front but worse was to
follow five minutes later when fleetfooted
sub Matt Collino raced through the middle
and slipped the ball past Joel Harding to
seal the points.
In fairness,
Selsey probably had the edge in a tight
first half but Hassocks were well in
contention despite getting little from
referee Andrew Massey, who got far too much
wrong and failed to inspire much confidence
all round. One could only feel sorry for the
likes of visiting skipper Ashley Marsh, who
was unfortunate to give Selsey the lead with
an own goal and then earned himself a yellow
card for potesting too loudly after being
penalised for what was a prefectly
legitimate challenge. Those things apart,
Marsh again shone in a somewhat depleted
team despite still carrying an ankle injury.
Arnie
Kublickas, playing at right back in the
absence of the holidaying Dan Jacques, was
involved in the early action. He was only
just too high with a lob from the angle less
than three minutes in when keeper Hill made
the decision easy for him and then four
minutes later at the other end cleared a
goalbound header from home skipper Alun
Morey off the line. On 15 minutes only
Marsh's excellent challenge, despite just
taking a knock, and then Harding's excellent
save low to his right denied Rob Wimble.
Calum Britton was prominent for Selsey,
popping up on both flanks, but there was not
much in it until the 29th minute when his
cross would have been a routine take for
Harding until Marsh intervened with a
glancing header that gave the keeper little
chance. It could have been 2-0 little more
than a minute later when Britton put Scott
Dormer clean through but Harding got just
enough on the ball to deflect it wide of the
near post.
From there,
Hassocks did well to get back on terms on 36
minutes when excellent work by Jeremiah
finally saw the ball fall for James Laing to
slide it in and the officials to rule it had
crossed the line before being cleared. Soon
after the break Selsey sub Richie Brown
failed to make contact when only a touch was
needed and then at the other end Daley Clark
poked the ball wide when one-on-one. There
were a couple of half chances for Hassocks
before the fateful penalty miss, with keeper
Hill for all his poor kicking and generally
suspect positional play, doing well to deny
Jeremiah low to his left and then saving
that Hibbert spot kick. But Selsey came up
with the vital third goal of the match and
that was enough to keep their good run going
and leave Dave John and his Hassocks team
pondering what might have been.
Hassocks:
Harding; Kublickas, Marsh, Lear, I Simpson,
Thompson; Hibbert, Gault, Clark; Laing,
Jeremiah.
Subs: Bates
(Clark, 69), Miles (Laing, 75), Brown (not
used).
Middy
Starman: Phil Gault was busy and effective
but Ashley Marsh is leading by example at
the moment and again gets the vote.
