Hassocks and Little Common will face each other for the first time in the league since the 1994-95 season when the two sides meet at the Oval this Saturday.
Only once in the intervening 25 years have the Robins taken on Common, an extraordinary 5-5 draw in the Sussex Principal RUR Charity Cup some six years ago which the visitors to the Beacon eventually won 4-3 on penalties.
Dan Smith, Kieran O’Callaghan, an own goal and a Louis Pople brace were the scorers for Hassocks that night while Chris Cummings-Bart netted a hat-trick and Jared Lusted a double for Common.
In the ensuring shoot out, both Smith and Pople missed for Hassocks with Common scoring four out of four to book their place in the third round of the competition.
The last league meeting between the two took place in Division One of the Southern Combination League in the 1993-94 season, Hassocks winning 3-0 at the Beacon.
The Robins won promotion to the top flight come the end of that season while Common were heading in the opposite direction with relegation into Division Two and then the East Sussex League following by the end of the decade.
It’s been a long road back but a rewarding one for Common. They were denied promotion to the top flight on a couple of occasions due to ground grading, but a move to share with Eastbourne United at the Oval has overcome that particular hurdle and as a result, Common are now enjoying their first season of Premier Division football.
They took to the higher level like a duck to water, winning their first their first two league games of the season to carry on exactly where they’d left off when lifting the Division One title last time out.
Things have dried up a bit since then however and they haven’t tasted victory since that second match of the campaign. There have been some remarkable results in there, including an 8-4 defeat away at Lancing in which Jack Langford scored a double hat-trick for the hosts and they nearly surprised Newhaven in the FA Vase before succumbing to a 1-0 defeat thanks to Callum Connor’s 85th minute strike.
This will be Hassocks’ first visit to the Oval of the season and it’s a ground that the Robins have a remarkable record at, having won on their previous five visits against landlords Eastbourne United.
Mark Dalgleish’s side will be hoping to extend that run against United’s new tenants. Kick off is at 3pm for those wanting to find out if they can.
