Crows, Stags and Boars join top flight for the new season
The FA have confirmed allocations for the 2022-23 non-league season with three new clubs joining the Southern Combination Premier Division and three departing.
Both Roffey and Midhurst & Easebourne have been promoted from Division One. Crowborough Athletic meanwhile return after seven seasons in the Southern Counties East League.
Leaving the Premier Division are champions Littlehampton Town who secure promotion to the Isthmian League. East Preston are relegated having finished bottom of the table and Pagham have been moved to the Wessex League, bringing to an end their long stay in the Southern Combination.
The Lions had been the second-longest serving Premier Division club after Hassocks, having won promotion to the top flight in 2008.
Crowborough and Hassocks used to be regular opponents prior to the Crows’ controversial sideways move to the Southern Counties East League in the summer of 2014.
The most recent Southern Combination meetings between the sides came in the 2013-14 campaign. Crowborough beat an injury-hit Robins 4-0 at the Crowborough Community Stadium and a Dan Smith goal decided the earlier fixture in Hassocks’ favour at the Beacon.
There has been one competitive match since, Crowborough winning 1-0 in the third round of the Sussex Senior Cup through a Ross Treleaven effort in the 2016-17 season.
In total, the clubs have faced off on 25 previous occasions. Hassocks lead the head-to-head having 13 wins to Crowborough’s nine. Draws are few and far between, only three stalemates since the 1992-93 season.
2022-23 will see Roffey play Premier Division football for the first time in their history. The Boars have embarked on a remarkable rise through the leagues since 2008 when they were playing in Mid Sussex Division Three.
Hassocks have never met Roffey in a league game before. The clubs only experience of each other came in the Peter Bentley League Cup back in September and it was not a good one for Hassocks as they were hammered 5-1 by their lower division opponents.
The Robins also lost their most recent cup game with Midhurst & Easebourne, who have been promoted to the Premier Division following a 29 year absence after beating Shoreham in the Division One playoff final.
Hassocks went to the Rotherfield in the first round of the Sussex Senior Cup in the 2020-21 campaign, being well beaten 3-0.
All the Stags’ goals came inside the opening 34 minutes as Dave John’s decision to rest seven first choice players showed where Hassocks’ priorities lay.
In total, the Robins have played Midhurst eight times. Hassocks have won five and the Stags three. The clubs have only shared a division in one previous season, the Robins completing a high-scoring Division One double over Midhurst when winning 6-0 at the Beacon and 6-1 at the Rotherfield.
The new Premier Division season is expected to get underway on Saturday 30th July 2022 with full details of Hassocks’ pre-season schedule to be released soon.
Full Southern Combination League Premier Division line up for 2022-23:
AFC Uckfield Town
AFC Varndeanians
Alfold
Bexhill United
Broadbridge Heath
Crawley Down Gatwick
Crowborough Athletic
Eastbourne Town
Eastbourne United
Hassocks
Horsham YMCA
Lingfield
Little Common
Loxwood
Midhurst & Easebourne
Newhaven
Peacehaven & Telscombe
Roffey
Saltdean United
Steyning Town
