Whitehawk Rangers 1-3 Hassocks Fatboys Reserves

Sussex Sunday League Division Four
Sunday 15th September 2019
 

A rather glorious morning greeted Hassocks Fatboys Reserves as they made their second visit in three weeks to East Brighton Park, this time to take on a Whitehawk Rangers side that are yet to pick up a point this season.

With the home team boasting a record so far of played three, lost three, conceded 14; some members of the travelling support were fully expecting this to be the day that Rangers picked up their first victory of the season despite the fact that Reece Wickwar’s men arrived unbeaten having won one and drawn one from their two games so far.

With some of the squad from the previous two weeks missing, Reece named a line-up that looked more familiar to last season than the experiments of pre-season and the beginning of the current campaign. Captain Jones was in goal, keen to impress the gaffer with a rumoured new signing from the German league watching in the stands. In front of him was recent arrival Glen Clayton, continuing his impressive early season form alongside Ali Jenkins at the heart of the defence. Nick Davie and Sam Wilson completed the back line playing left and right back respectively.

The midfield engine room was occupied by Luke Vick, who was still dining out on the 200 yard volley he scored the previous week. Alongside Vick was club stalwart Mark Potter, making his first start of the season. Reece himself took responsibility for the number 10 role and Ando Knott and Greg Chappell – who is still looking for his first Fatboys goal despite having 20 chances from the first two games – were on the wings. This season’s top scorer, Simon O’Brien, completed the starting 11 in the lone striker role. That left a strong bench of Kevin Ticehurst, Stuart Young, Chris Clayton and the evergreen, best-selling author, Jules Clay who were all chomping at the bit to get on.

The game started well for the Fatboys as they had the majority of the possession in the early stages. The back four looked strong and the forwards were beating their markers every time. The danger player for Rangers was giving the Fatboys’ central midfield players some hassle but that was partly because he had a free role, roaming around the pitch at will and making it difficult for him to be marked.

The first chance of the game fell to the Fatboys. A ball into the box resulted in a push on O’Brien and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. As Jenkins made his way forward to take the penalty, there was a buzz of excitement in the Fatboys squad. One member, who shall remain nameless (but his name rhymes with Dick Navy), exclaimed “This is a goal, Jenkins is great at penalties.” Needless to say, the penalty was poorly taken and came flying back off the post, much to the excitement of Bod who was rubbing his hands with glee and waiting in the wings to take the next one.

Shortly after that miss, some great wing play on the left from Ando saw him running into the box before looking up and spotting ‘Stevie G’ Potter making a late run. Ando picked out Potter perfectly and without breaking stride, Potter rolled the ball towards the bottom corner only for the keeper to pull off one of many great saves of the morning, somehow managing to stick his foot out and deflect it away. Disbelief from the Fatboys who had already started to celebrate what would have been a rare goal for the chairman.

Midway through the first half and Jenkins had a chance to redeem himself for his earlier failure as the Fatboys were awarded a second penalty. An excellent passing move ended with SOB taking the ball into the area where a shockingly quick turn wrong footed the defender, leaving him with no option other than to bring SOB down. Luke fancied his chances with the spot kick but Jenkins was keen to make amends and with Vick graciously allowing Ali another chance, he calmly placed the ball into the top left corner with the goalkeeper diving the other way.

The game evened out a bit after that with both sides having chances to score. Jones was keen not to be outdone by his opposite number, pulling off some great saves of his own to keep the Fatboys ahead. And then, right on the stroke of half time, disaster struck. A Rangers corner appeared to be flying in before Davie brilliantly cleared off the line (or it just hit him and he knew nothing about…you decide).

From there, the ball fell to Potter on the edge of the box but he fatally decided to wait for it to bounce before clearing. That gave just enough time to a Rangers player to get his toe to ball as Potter swung a leg at it and with a referee who must have been on commission for penalties given, a third penalty of the morning was awarded. The Rangers striker, who’d been kept largely anonymous up to that point by Jenkins and Glen, stepped up and brilliantly put the ball into the top corner to level things up seconds before the half.

Reece gave an inspiring and influential team talk at the break and with the welcome addition of mini bags of Haribo and some Jelly Babies, the Fatboys were champing at the bit to get the second half started.

If the first half ended badly for the Fatboys, then the second got off to an even worse start. A free kick on the Fatboys right wing was swung into the box and with Wilson jumping to head clear and Jenkins not calling for it and leaving it for Sam, the Rangers winger managed to get in-between them to head into the bottom corner for 2-1.

This kicked the Green Army into action with Davie taking it upon himself to turn his left back role into more of a wing back as he attempted to re-create his Messi-like dribble from last Sunday. Reece then made some changes, introducing Bod for Greg, who had managed to rival O’Brien’s efforts by missing an open goal from two yards just as the veteran striker had on our previous visit to East Brighton Park on the opening day. Bod went through the middle with O’Brien moving out to the right and Ticehurst replaced Potter.

Those adjustments from the manager turned the tide in the Fatboys favour although for all the chances created afterwards, it was still a struggle to actually score. That was largely thanks to the Rangers keeper who was having a great morning. He pulled off a couple of saves from Ando and a superb flying stop from Luke before the Fatboys finally got back on level terms in the 70th minute. A corner from Luke was swung to the back post where Bod out-jumped his marker(s) to head into the top corner. 2-2 and it was very much game on.

Reece turned to the bench again with Young replacing Davie and Greg reentering the game in place of SOB, who had worked tirelessly all morning. Within minutes of the changes, one of the most surprising moments of the season so far occurred. A Fatboys corner was cleared out to the right wing, where Kev had sprinted to chase the ball down. After taking a touch, he looked up and saw that Greg was in space in the box. Ticehurst then put in a cross that David Beckham will be watching YouTube videos of, and Greg leapt in the air between two defenders to place a powerful header into the bottom corner.

Wild scenes followed as the entire Fatboys team went sprinting towards Greg to celebrate his first ever goal, showing how much of a popular member of the squad he has already become. The only player not to celebrate with Greg was the player who created the assist, Kev being very angry with his teammates for not celebrating with him for the cross. The Fatboys now led 3-2.

Rangers should have had an immediate chance to pull level from another penalty as a corner was swung into the box which Kev controlled with his hand. From there, he pulled off the greatest bit of acting since Louisa Lytton first appeared on our screens in Eastenders. As Rangers screamed for a penalty, Kev began looking at the ref with a face that you would expect to see from a new puppy that had just made a mess of your mum’s new carpet. Unbelievably, the referee bought this and waved away Rangers’ claims for a spot kick.

That seemed to deflate Rangers and the Fatboys sensed that the game was there for the taking now and so the continued to press forward, forcing another corner. Reece drilled it low to the front post where Ando was waiting to flick the ball, Kanu-style, towards the back post. The Rangers defender looked set to clear the ball easily, yet somehow it ended up in the back of the net, making it 4-2 with just five minutes to go.

The action wasn’t quite done there though as the end of the game was overshadowed by a nasty clash of heads between Young and Rangers’ veteran right winger. Both players were stooping to head the ball but accidentally came together with the Rangers man coming off second best. It was refreshing to see both teams showing concerns for the individuals involved and working together to ensure that both parties were bandaged up. The Fatboys even donated some of their left over Haribo and Jelly Babies to the Rangers man, who required hospital attention.

Young didn’t need to visit the Royal Sussex but he was substituted with Davie returning to the field. It was a subdued final few minutes after that as the Fatboys saw the game out to pick up their second win of the season and maintain their unbeaten start.
 

Fatboys Reserves

Nick Jones
Sam Wilson
Ali Jenkins
Glen Clayton
Nick Davie
Mark Potter
Luke Vick
Reece Wickwar
Greg Chappell
Simon O’Brien
Ando Knott
 

Subs

Chris Clayton
Kevin Ticehurst
Stuart Young
Jules Clay
 

Goals

23′ Jenkins, assist O’Brien
70′ C Clayton, assist Vick
78′ Chappell, assist Ticehurst
85′ Knott, assist Wickwar
 

Man of the Match

The vote was won by Ando Knott in an absolute landslide as he was a constant threat throughout the game.