IN THE space of one short month a
season that still held plenty of promise for Hassocks has
disintegrated – and it started and finished against lowly
Rye. It might be something
about coastal towns but the Robins clearly do not get on with
either Rye or Selsey. Yet while they have beaten Selsey three
times this season, Rye have proved somewhat more obstinate.
The East Sussex club ended the very real RUR Cup hopes of Dave
John's men just before the turn of the year and on Tuesday the
visitors well and truly buried the memory of an earlier 1-0 FA
Cup exit to the Robins by pocketing three valuable league
points with a 2-0 win.
It was only Rye's fifth league
success but was thoroughly well deserved and with their
massive number of games in hand it should go a long way to
preserving Division 1 status. As for Hassocks, there were
mitigating circumstances but really this was not good enough
and even the phlegmatic John admitted on the final whistle
that he wasn't a happy man. He felt his side were bullied out
of it and were not helped by referee Boris Erguvan, whose only
bookings were home trio Chris Brown, Spencer Slaughter and
Phil Gault.
That was a somewhat surprising
statistic and hardly guaranteed to lift the spirits of a side
without consistent defender Ashley Marsh, who broke his collar
bone on Saturday and will be missing for at least two months,
as well as the equally influential Matt Robbins (ankle) and
Jamie Ingham (knee). Amazingly, 16-year-old Ingham passed
himself fit but sensibly he stayed on the bench and was not
risked. With free-scoring midfielder Anthony Hibbert not
showing much sign of a return to fitness, Matt Amos at
university and Sam Fisk trying his luck in Australia, that
leaves John with a heavily depleted squad.
He gave a full debut to Michael
Bates in midfield and declared himself more than happy with
the teenager's performance but that was an area where the
hosts struggled badly. They gave the ball away far too
cheaply and with Spencer Slaughter covering for Marsh, striker
Phil Gault played a more withdrawn role as James Laing and
Lawrence Robinson were entrusted with the attacking duties.
Rye's touch was much more assured and while the visitors had
four or five acceptable chances in the first half, it was 40
minutes before Gault's astute chip brought a good save from
Gavin Bourne. Robins promised more early in the second half
but it came to nothing and two goals in little more than two
minutes left them well beaten. Scott McDonald scored from
Shaun Loft's headed pass on 64 minutes and then the talented
Duncan McArthur waltzed around at least five players,
including keeper Joel Harding, for a breathtaking solo goal.
Hassocks: Harding; Turner,
Slaughter, Faith, Lear, Thompson; Gault, Brown, Bates; Laing,
Robinson.
Subs: Thomas (Laing, 73),
Dawson (Bates, 80).
Middy Starman: Peter Lear.
