Shoreham 3rd Reserves 2-2 Hassocks Fatboys

Sussex Sunday League Division Five
Sunday 16th December 2012
Buckingham Park

 

Christmas may still be nine days away, but Hassocks Fatboys got into the seasonal spirit early at Buckingham Park by throwing away two-goal lead to gift Division Five’s bottom side Shoreham 3rd Reserves a point.

With an hour played, the Fatboys were 2-0 ahead thanks to goals from Dave Standing and Stuart Ridley and looking in complete control. Second place in the table was beckoning ahead of next Sunday’s eagerly anticipated B2116 Derby with Pink Flamingos A and everything seemed right with the world.

What happened next was an astonishing collapse. The Fatboys failed to mark Shoreham players effectively twice in the space of 11 second half minutes and suddenly, the hosts were walking away with a 2-2 draw. Standing and John Kearvill both had perfectly good goals disallowed by a referee who made a number of weird and wonderful decisions on behalf of both teams to complete a frustrating morning for the Fatboys.

Daniel Lawrence was forced into several changes from the side who exited the Vic Bettney Memorial Trophy on penalties against the Duke of Wellington a week ago. Midfield duo Chris Stacey and Mark Potter were both missing and there was a further blow when Jason Gander pulled his hamstring in the early hours of Sunday morning on the Oceana dancefloor.

Matt Martindale had been pencilled in to start in midfield and arrived in Shoreham at 8am, bright eyed and bushy tailed at the prospect. His excitement was soon replaced by anger as Gander’s late withdrawal meant that plan had to be scrapped and Martindale dropped in at centre half. Gander shouldn’t expect a pint from the vice captain any time soon, unless it is laced with cyanide. Lawrence took over in the middle of the park with JK returning three weeks after he had retired because the weather was too cold.

The Fatboys started the game well, playing some excellent passing football to fashion a number of opportunities. Rhys Kearvill and Rob Lloyd out wide were causing real problems with their delivery and it was only an excellent save from the Shoreham goalkeeper that prevent Standing’s rasping volley from giving the Fatboys an early lead.

They eventually went ahead with 34 minutes on the clock. Martindale was proving to be a revelation at centre half, offering a ball playing option far removed from the kick-the-opposition approach favoured by Gander and Andy Rumble. It was Martindale stepping out of defence which led to the goal as his clever run and pass released Lloyd down the left. Lloyd cut inside and laid off to Ridley who let a rocket go from 30 yards that not even three goalkeepers could have kept out. In a touching gesture, Ridley dedicated the goal to his girlfriend, who was unfortunately not in attendance as she had a challenging piece of Maths homework that was due in the next day.

Shoreham barely threatened in the first half, thanks in part to an excellent shape from Martindale, Rumble and full backs Richard Coleman and Martyn Buxton. On the rare occasions that the hosts did manage to break through, their finishing was wayward when they really should have at least tested Scott McCarthy, who was enjoying his quitest game of the season so far.

The Fatboys thought they had doubled the lead within five minutes of the second half. JK played in Standing and with the Shoreham defence caught stone cold, Standing latched onto the through ball and buried his effort low and hard into the bottom corner. Unfortunately, the Shoreham linesman was much more aware than their back four and his flag went up for a hugely questionable offside decision. Given that the referee hadn’t moved out of the centre circle so far, he had no choice but to rely on the judgement of his assistant and rule the goal out.

There was nothing that the linesman could do the next time the Fatboys had the ball in the back of the net. Buxton delivered a fine corner which Standing rose to meet with a bullet header to make it 2-0 with 55 minutes on the clock. The game really should have been sewn up after that as a glut of chances went begging, including when Buxton let one go from distance which whistled just over and Standing hit a post with a diving header from another set piece.

Shoreham duly punished this missed chances with two quickfire goals to turn the game on its head. On 67 minutes, the referee awarded Shoreham a free kick for an accidental handball despite being 30 yards away from the offence. McCarthy and Lloyd spent the next five minutes screaming that there were two men free at the back post but nobody was listening and lo and behold, one of those had a simple free header.

JK scored another legitimate Fatboys goal shortly after which resulted in an even more atrocious offside decision. Buxton had sent in a fine free kick delivery which was met by a bullet header from the veteran striker, winding the clock back to his days as Mid Sussex’s deadliest marksman at Wivelsfield Green during the 1960s. Seeing that ruled out will probably be enough to send JK back into retirement, even if the temperature remains favourable for the rest of winter.

To compound the Fatboys’ frustration at that decision, Shoreham equalised five minutes later. Rumble decided the most effective way to clear a loose ball would be by volleying it towards the top corner, drawing a superb reaction save out of McCarthy. Unfortunately, three unmarked Shoreham players were queuing up in the box and one of them tucked home the loose ball. Had McCarthy known that was going to happen, he confirmed afterwards that he would have let Rumble’s effort fly in, giving the shiny bonced defender the owner of the first own goal in Fatboys history.

Lawrence turned to his bench to make an attacking change with 20 minutes remaining as Jason Pennicard entered the fray. But even with the talented striker back from injury, the Fatboys couldn’t fashion a winner and the game ended in acrimony as both Standing and McCarthy nearly saw red for dissent.

McCarthy’s spat with the referee was particularly bizarre as he bellowed “IF YOU COULD MOVE OUT THE CENTRE CIRCLE YOU MIGHT HAVE SEEN THAT.” The official then kind of ratified McCarthy’s comments by summoning the goalkeeper to the centre circle for a talking to with only the intervention of the Shoreham captain preventing a card coming out.

There was plenty of bickering between the Fatboys’ players towards the end, which highlights the increasing improvement of standards that recent results have driven – it is only a few weeks ago that any point looked a good point. Despite the doom and gloom, the draw lifted the Fatboys into third and there was also the positive sign of Reece Wickwar joining in the pre-game warm up. His £12 transfer from Mooch is expected to be completed ahead of next week as Lawrence looks to boost his squad by signing another ex-Hassocks goalkeeper who doesn’t want to play in goal.

 

Hassocks Fatboys (4-4-2)

Scott McCarthy
It was a quiet morning for the goalkeeper with his only safe of note coming from Rumble.
Richard Coleman
Returned to the side at right back. Provided a real option going forward.
Andy Rumble
Put in a good performance against a pacy attack. Seemed to enjoy having Martindale alongside him as he had more time to devote towards kicking people.
Matt Martindale
The look on his face when Gander pulled out was priceless. He was a revelation as a reluctant centre back, carrying the ball out and dictating play all the while being excellent defensively.
Martyn Buxton
Thrived on the big pitch as he caused carnage going forward. His set piece delivery was on point all morning and that helped him claim an assist.
Rhys Kearvill
Started the game superbly before drifting out in the second half as his hangover started to kick in. He wasn’t sick on the pitch though, which meant this was an improvement on last week.
Daniel Lawrence
His best game of the season having found himself having to start in central midfield at the last minute.
Stuart Ridley
Scored an absolute rocket and that inspired him to go on the hunt for more. His girlfriend would have been impressed if she didn’t have maths homework to do.
Rob Lloyd
Seems to be hitting a rich vein of form at the minute. Set Standing up for the first and cut in the left with purpose time and time again.
John Kearvill
A slightly warmer day saw him come out of retirement. Ended up being man-of-the-match and was only denied a goal by a terrible offside decision.
Dave Standing
Scored an excellent header and saw another acrobatic effort smash against the post. Just like JK, he too was denied by a poor offside.

 

Subs

Jason Pennicard
Put in one crunching tackle which most of his teammates assumed would break his glass knee. Wasn’t able to make many inroads in his 15 minutes.
Christian Jones
Took over from Lawrence late on but didn’t touch the ball.

 

Goals

34′ Ridley, assist Lloyd
55′ Standing, assist Buxton

 

Man-of-the-Match

Daniel Lawrence impressed in the middle of the park but it goes to John Kearvill, who now won’t be seen until the sun reappears in April.