Heath Under 23s travelled to division leaders Hassocks on a bitter cold winters evening hoping to reduce the deficit between the two sides, and if you earned points through the number of passes and amount of possession then the Bears would have won hands down, but defensive play, counter-attacking and clinical finishing is equally important and at that the Robins excelled on the night.
The first half was a pretty even affair only separated by a goal on 20 minutes when Heath were caught in possession playing out from the back, although it looked as if the Hassocks player had inadvertently used his hands to control the ball the incident was missed by the match officials and the goal was allowed to stand.
At the other end Heath’s best chance of the half came on 31 minutes when Keanin Louw was put through on goal but the Hassocks goalkeeper came sprinting off his line to close the angle and make a superb save to maintain his team’s 1-0 advantage at the break.
Heath dominated the early play in the second period keeping the Robins pinned into their own half, Jack Hayes tried his luck with a powerful right foot shot from 20 yards but straight at the goalkeeper and Eugene Moteane struck a left foot shot from distance that flew narrowly wide of the target but the Hassocks defence stood firm and dealt with everything Heath could throw at them.
Midway through the half on a rare foray to the other end it was the hosts who almost doubled their lead with a quick counter attack down the left that ended with a low shot across the face of the goal that struck the foot of the post before being cleared.
Back to the other end and a long ball forward to Zack Rhioui, making his Bears club debut, saw the young player hit a shot just wide of the post, but with 15 minutes remaining the Robins made it 2-0 with a fairly straight forward move, an attack down the left flank, a low cross into the danger area, a Hassocks player running in to coolly convert from 12 yards.
On 82 minutes the closest Heath came to scoring when a corner was only half cleared, the ball was played back into the danger area through a crowd of players before being cleared off the goal-line to safety.
Into time-added on and the division leaders completed a very satisfactory evening for them by scoring a third to increase their lead at the top of the division to 3 points over Horley Town and 4 points above the Bears.
Next up for the Bears 23s is a trip to ‘Theatre of Trees’ home of Loxwood FC on Thursday 6th February, for a SCFL U23 match, Kick Off 7.45.
Team: Courtney, Mark, Al-Meskin, Kent, Pickering, Cumming, Moteane, Cranfield, Louw, Hayes, Ahmed. Subs: Martinez, Duneclift, Wraight, Rhioui.