HASSOCKS 2 ANVILS 1

Yet another unfortunate afternoon for the Anvils as the Robins held onto their slender halftime lead, whilst the Anvils having so much more of the second half play but yet again came up short in their inability to convert the chances that are being created, this latest reverse means we have now lost six of our nine games by just a single goal margin.

The Anvils started the brisker of the two sides with an early chance on 5 mins when from Josh Alcock's corner the ball found Matt Burroughs who in turn set up Charlie Dodd but could only hoist the ball over the bar, midfielder Burroughs then took advantage of a James Upton corner only to fire wide. As so happens a team under the cosh then has a break of its own and on 10 when the Robins with their first attack went in front when quick play between Bradley Bant and Phil Johnson led to Johnson's cross field ball finding Aaron Czech unmarked to slot home the opener. 1-0 Robins.

Play continued to be equally shared for the next quarter hour with homesters fullback George Brown trying his luck with a halfway line free kick that was taken by Anvil keeper Seb Bos, on the half hour the keeper was bought into play punching away a Czech drive, followed by Dan Stokes setting up Nathan Miles but yet again Bos was equal to the effort. On the backfoot by now the Anvils were relying heavily on Blair Cooney and Dodd to intercept the aerial bombardment from the Robins flank and then having to rely on the counter of which Burroughs fired wide and Cooney having a long run from the halfway line only to be foiled by keeper Sam Brock. On 35 however homesters Johnson got free to rifle home the Robins second of the match. 2-0 Robins.

Not to be outdone the Anvils fought back with fullback Aaron Wright on a charge down the left flank had his cross touched over by Brock, with the clock approaching halftime Sam Cane on a charge thro the midst of the Robins defence was felled in the box and it was left to Cane to fire home the penalty albeit thro a second bite of the cherry, after keeper Brock had pushed out his first attempt HT 2-1 Robins.

Anvils were busy on the bench with Ciaran Steers replacing Wright in an effort to boost the attacking options and straightaway he tested Brock with a curling centre into the box, on 52 Steers and Burroughs combined to set up Upton but the flank man fired wide, just after the nearest chance of a goal came with a Burroughs cross finding Grant Rigler standing virtually on the goal line but somehow managed to scoop the ball over. By the hour mark the Anvils were doing all the pressing with chances being created and then wasted in similar fashion, on 62 Steve Major entered the fray replacing Burroughs, yet again Steers got loose on the flank but as per usual his cross was missed by the lack of attacking bodies, a charge by Cane thro the middle caused another scramble in the homesters box before being hacked away. For the Robins now more in defence mode continued to make the odd sortie with Brown sending in another long free kick, followed on 75 by a Stokes free that Bos brilliantly dived to his left to flip the ball over, he later then had to grab a header from the energetic Brown. For the last quarter the Anvils threw the proverbial kitchen sink at the Robins defence with chances being setup but floundering once the 18 yd box was reached, and in spite of all the hard work from Steers and Alcock the Anvils yet again failed to reap anything from the game.
FT 2-1 Robins

Team: Seb Bos, Matt Gates, Aaron Wright (Ciaran Steers), Andy Goodwin (Steve Haliday), Blair Cooney, Charlie Dodd, Matt Burroughs (Steve Major), Sam Cane, Grant Rigler, James Upton, Josh Alcock.

Sussex Carpet Centre MOM: Seb Bos Attn: 70