Two of the
visitors' goals came in stoppage time but
really an odd-goal FA Cup exit would have
flattered Hassocks as they played second
fiddle to Ash from start to finish. However,
when sub James Laing pegged it back to 2-1
somewhat out of the blue 20 minutes from time,
the Combined Counties side did start to wobble
a little and there was an outside chance Dave
John's team could get out of jail. But in the
end no-one connected with the home camp could
have any complaints about losing to a side who
went out of the Vase 2-0 on their previous
visit to the Beacon two years earlier.
Despite the
return of Anthony Hibbert from Horsham YMCA,
Hassocks lacked creativity in midfield and
failed to string more than two or three passes
together during the whole 90 minutes. Their
lack of pace at the back also was again
exposed on occasions and with no real quality
up front, there was little chance of creating
much considering the poor service to the
strikers. Laing did at least enable them to
start winning a few headers in the Ash half of
the field but perhaps his introduction at 2-0
down may have been better at the expense of
one of the five defenders rather than hard
working striker Neil Kane, one of the few
players with a turn of foot.
The first
chance of note did fall to Hassocks but
Hibbert failed to get any power in his shot
and on 12 minutes Ash went in front when
impressive left-footed defender Lee O'Donnell
was allowed a free header from a corner by the
equally eye-catching James Blason. The Robins
failed to learn from that and again left
O'Donnell free from the next corner although
this time it did not prove costly. A couple of
Hibbert free kicks did pose problems for Ash
keeper Arjuna Adlam, who did well to turn the
first over the bar when it looked like the
40-yard effort would catch him out. The second
shot from 15 yards closer was only just wide.
Ash had
squandered the two clearest chances after the
opening goal but they looked on easy street on
53 minutes when Paul Weatherall and Rob Parrot
combined to send Aneel Azeem through and he
comfortably rounded keeper Joel Harding, who
was left slightly in two minds. Johnsy thought
that looked offside but home supporters well
placed to have an opinion felt it was a fair
goal. Three minutes earlier home skipper
Ashley Marsh had pulled off a miraculous
goalline clearance to deny Greg Kirkpatrick
after Harding had been blocked from
intercepting an up-and-under cross by Blason.
A route one move did force Adlam to pull off a
good save to deny Matt Amos but it was still
an unexpected lifeline as Laing swept in a
Matt Amos cross six minutes later.
At last there
was a chance of home hopes being revived but
Amos was just too high with a header from
Hibbert's corner and it was then Ash who
finished much the stronger. Great skills by
Azeem set up Blason for a thumping drive that
Harding did well to turn aside before Ash
doubled their tally in stoppage time with well
taken efforts by Michael Pym and Azeem.
Johnsy reckons
there are still another couple of signings on
their way at the Beacon and on the evidence of
this performance, they are badly needed. As
for Ash, they have hit four goals on the first
two Saturdays of the season and the result
will have gone some way to diffusing their
anger with the officials. They had four
players booked and another sent from the
bench, while Spencer Slaughter could have no
complaints about being the only Hassocks
player to pick up a yellow card.
Hassocks:
Harding; Kublickas, Marsha, Bowra, Simpson,
Thompson; Slaughter, Gacias, Hibbert; Amos,
Kane.
Subs: Laing
(Kane, 57), Clark, Charker, Jacques, Gander
(not used).
