Broadbridge Heath met Hassocks at 'The BodyMould Community Stadium' for this rearranged Isthmian League match on Tuesday evening and it was the relegation threatened Robins who left with the 3 points that they hope will help them avoid the drop back to the Southern Combination League football.

The visitors started on the front foot with Lewis Finney firing a right foot shot from 18 yards just wide of the Heath goal in the opening minutes while at the other end Charlie Connell did likewise with a right foot shot narrowly wide of the post.

The deadlock was broken on 17 minutes when Scott Faber played the ball forward to Zack Henry who cut inside and advanced towards the Heath penalty area before unleashing a left foot shot from 22 yards that flew under the diving Alfie Hadfield.

Henry was in action again midway through the half with a left foot shot wide of the mark and just before the break Heath’s Mason Doughty struck a low right foot shot across the face of goal and out for a goal-kick and it remained 0-1 at the break.

The Robins doubled their lead on 63 minutes when a free-kick wide on the right was crossed into the Heath penalty area to Jack Troak who powered a header onto the post but the Hassocks striker reacted quickest to knock the loose ball into the net from close range.

The Bears pulled a goal back 20 minutes from time, during their best spell of the match, when Heath were awarded a free-kick wide on the right, Yuvi Mann played the ball in towards Sal Marino who headed home from 8 yards to reduce the deficit.

Any hope of a Heath recovery were short-lived though when the visitor’s restored their 2-goal advantage 7 minutes later with ‘the goal of the game’ when a long ball was played down the right flank, crossed first time into the Heath penalty area where it was met by a diving Troak who powered a header past Hadfield from 8 yards for his second of the evening.

Hassocks added a fourth on 84 minutes with another long ball from defence hammered down the right flank to Troak to chase, which he did outpacing the Heath defence, then cutting inside into the penalty area before firing a low right foot shot past the advancing Hadfield to complete a well-deserved hat-trick.

The Bears scored a second in injury time when Matt Hay’s shot from distance was blocked by Hassocks goalkeeper James Shaw with the ball coming off the keeper into the path of Charlie Pitcher for a tap-in to bring the game to an end.

After the match Heath Manager Chris Simmons replying to Hassocks social media said “Congratulations guys, out worked and out fought us, fully deserved the win!”

Team: Hadfield, Marino (Staight 97), Terry (Wooster 46), Napper (Hay 67), Richardson, Peters, Mann, Romain, Pitcher Connell, Doughty (Bejashvili 60).