Eastbourne Borough Ladies 3
13 April 2008
Hassocks Ladies bowed out of the League Cup losing the semi final to a youthful and very good Eastbourne Borough side. A problem Hassocks have encountered this season is the depth of their squad and this came back to haunt them on Sunday when goalkeeper Connie Coppinger pulled out through illness 2 hours before kick off leaving Hassocks with just ten fit and available players. Alex Southgate who has been out for some weeks with a serious knee injury bravely offered to play to make up the numbers although she was clearly suffering and should not have been playing.
As if this wasn’t enough Hassocks have not played for 5 weeks as a result of weather induced postponements so they clearly faced an uphill struggle. They made a brave fight of it and were not helped by the referee having trouble distinguishing between body strength and fouling and at least one of those decisions denied Hassocks an almost certain goal. Colette Barry whose flight home from holiday only landed a few hours before kick off scored Hassocks consolation goal.
With the end of the season so close, it is unlikely that Hassocks will be able to fulfil all their remaining fixtures but they will battle on and then regroup and recruit experienced players to increase the size and further improve the quality of the squad for next season.
Team:
Charlotte Deeley,
Sonya Nye,
Alison Dudley,
Amy Hooper,
Sam Newman,
Colette Barry,
Birgit Rathbone
Liz King,
Laura Turner,
Alex Southgate
Katie Harding
Scorer:
Colette Barry