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MATCH
REPORTS - FIRST TEAM
John O'Hara League
Challenge Cup 1st Round
Friday
24th August
2007
ROBINS SMASH
OAK FOR FIVE IN COMFY EVENING
Hassocks
5-1 Mile Oak
A
POTENTIAL banana skin of a John O’Hara League Cup
tie was comfortably negotiated by Robins on Friday
night as they scored five times and could easily have
had more.
Oak had the last word with a penalty on the stroke of
full time and in No 10 Titus Paterson possessed a
player who readily caught the eye. But really it was
over as a contest well before half time as the hosts
turned around 3-0 up and scored again barely a minute
after the break. It took a while for Robins to find
their feet against Division 2 opponents and in truth
there were probably too many misplaced passes all
night for this to qualify as little more than a job
done. Matt Robbins impressed with his forceful runs
from midfield and it was one on 13 minutes that
enabled Anthony Hibbert to score with a less than
convincing strike that found Ben Heasman's bottom
lefthand corner. Soon after that referee Darren
Eaton's blushes were spared when he deflected a
Hassocks clearance into touch and from Daryl Livsey's
long throw the home side were fortunate not to concede
an equaliser. Big Paul Eaton then produced a couple of
bright moments for Oak, first getting over a good
cross that no-one got on the end of and then forcing
Hassocks skipper Joel Harding to save an angled drive
at the second attempt. But then Sam Fisk and Matt Amos
went close and Heasman pulled off two excellent saves
in rapid succession from Robbins and Hibbert.
Hassocks
were finally on easy street after 32 minutes when a
good diagonal ball by Robbins found the impressive
Phil Gault, who despite appearing to have the ball
stuck under his feet still managed to dig out a shot
that found the same corner as Hibbert.
It
was then game, set and match on the stroke of half
time when a corner was played short and Hibbert's
cross was headed into his own goal by visiting skipper
Steve Porter.
Any faint hopes Oak may still have had were dashed
immediately after the restart when home defender Peter
Lear headed in a corner and after that Hassocks could
have made it embarrassing for their visitors. However,
little seems to be going right in front of goal for
Matt Amos after his impressive first season although
that's not unusual for one so young and there can be
no doubting his quality. That was there for all to see
when he did superbly to cross for Gault to complete a
simple tap-in from close range five minutes from time.
But referee Eaton seemed to have it in for Brendan
Leahy all night and awarded a penalty against him
right on full time. It meant Phil Wickwar was finally
beaten after impressively deputising for Harding at
half time.
Harding
had played strapped up on Saturday and in the first
half of this match after injuring his groin and arm in
a fall downstairs but it was pointless to risk him
further with the tie virtually won. It also meant he
was unable to help Horsham YMCA out of a goalkeeping
problem on Saturday. Wickwar looked totally confident,
pulling off one fine save and distributing the ball
with great intelligence but he was sent the wrong way
by Paul Eaton’s spot kick. But that was only a
consolation for Oak in a Hassocks win in which manager
Dave John was able to give Spencer Slaughter a run out
and also hand a late senior debut to Sam Franks.
Hassocks:
Harding, Turner, Marsh, Lear, Leahy, Thompson;
Hibbert, Robbins, Fisk; Gault, Amos
Subs:
Wickwar (Harding, 45), Slaughter (Thompson, 74),
Franks (Marsh, 82).
Middy
Starman: Matt Robbins, not everything came off but he
was always positive and available
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