Bod back from honeymoon in the nick of time

Chris Clayton flew in from Florida to earn Hassocks Fatboys Reserves three points as his last minute winner saw off Hove United 2-1 at Waterhall.

The man known as El Bod had spent the past fortnight enjoying his honeymoon Stateside and while most men would’ve accepted landing back in England at 8am on a Sunday morning meant they that couldn’t make a 10.30am kick off, Clayton was having none of it.

He raced down to Waterhall double sharp in his purple fleece, arriving at half time and was there to answer the call when Jamie Stratton threw him on in the second half to score the winner with virtually the last touch of the game.

While Bod was able to make the game, several reserve team regulars weren’t. Jon Kelly was a late withdrawal after his car suffered a flat tyre in Reading of all places and Kevin Ticehurst was away for the weekend in Manchester. This seemed odd seeing as Kev will be back in Manchester next Saturday when Brighton face Manchester United, but he was adamant he hadn’t done what some people would describe as a “Typical Kev thing” and accidentally booked a hotel and travel for the wrong weekend. We’ll let you be the judge of that.

Having tasted victory against Amici last week, the Fatboys picked up where they left off as they were in complete control early on with Rob Lloyd and Tommy Tyler again enjoying their new statuses as strikers with Lloyd having the first chance of the game, drawing a good save from the United goalkeeper.

It was to be a busy first half for the United goalkeeper and he was soon making a number of stops, the best of which came from Reece Wickwar who then cut a frustrated figure as nobody in a green shirt was there to capitalise on the loose ball follow up either.

An unlikely source gave the Fatboys the lead as Bruce Bignell scored his first goal for the club and what a goal it was. Bignell channelled his inner Bobby Moore as he stepped out of defence with the ball and danced his way through the United midfield and defence before slotting home as a calmly as possible. If the goal was good, then Bruce’s revelation that he was so graceful going forward because he is a part-time swing dancer was even better.

The Fatboys continued to apply the pressure and further chances went begging, Tyler playing in Nick Davie who saw a shot saved and Lloyd squandered another couple of half chances after being played in by Sam Lowe who was looking good in an attacking role after his promotion from the first team.

Just before half time the Fatboys were given their best chance of the half (which is saying something) when they were awarded a penalty. An inch perfect free kick from Stuart Young saw Ross Joannides bundled to the ground as he attempted to challenge for a header with the referee having no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Wickwar stepped up but saw his effort well saved by the Hove goalkeeper, much to the delight of his team mates and of Fatboys substitute Simon O’Brien who joined in the oppositions celebrations over the miss.

The second half began in much the same fashion with Tyler again testing the goalkeeper before the Fatboys were made to rue their poor finishing as United levelled with a real sucker punch, Wickwar failing to clear a corner effectively with the result being the ball ending up in the back of the net.

Frustrations began to boil over now as Nick Jones and Mark Potter became embroiled in their weekly murder mystery style Whodunnit over who was most at fault for the goal out of the two of them. United took advantage of the disarray in the home camp to come back into the game and only some brave defending from Sam Wilson and an excellent save from Jones prevented them taking an underserved lead.

Changes were needed and Stratton duly obliged with O’Brien and Clayton coming on for Lowe and Tyler respectively. Shortly after that, Russell Jebbitt and Kenny Tinnion also joined the action in place of Young and Wilson.

That switched the momentum back to the Fatboys and Davie powered forward from right back only to see his cross missed by Tinnion, Clayton and Lloyd who were forming an orderly queue in the box. Clayton then headed back across goal to the veteran O’Brien who’s shot actually ended up nearer the Fatboys goal than United’s.

O’Brien did have the ball in the back of the net when he looked to have sprung the offside trap and he rounded the goalkeeper to score, only for the flag to then go up once the United linesman decided he didn’t want his team to concede. This blatant bit of cheating was met with a barrage of abuse from the Fatboys although sadly Stratton remained calm, denying us all the chance to see Stratton rage.

As a result of that poor decision the Fatboys became more frustrated and that translated into some nasty challenges flying in with Davie the pick of the bunch with a Lewis Dunk moment, a horrific first touch followed by a desperate lunge to win the ball back. Luckily, he escaped without a caution and luckily, the resulting free kick didn’t trouble Jones.

Into the dying seconds of the game and both teams seemed ready to accept a score draw, albeit a frustrating one from a Fatboys point of view. Having crossed the Atlantic to play, Clayton wasn’t ready to accept it however and he met Wickwar’s freekick with a powerful header that finally saw the United goalkeeper beaten for the second time in the game to spark scenes of wild celebrations and make it three wins in a row for the reserves.