A trip to a venue where they have never won a game of senior football is next on the agenda for Hassocks as they travel to the Trafalgar Ground to take on title-chasing Newhaven.
The Robins have visited Fort Road on seven previous occasions, losing six of them and conceding 24 times at an average of over three a game.
The good news is that the solitary point they’ve collected from Newhaven came last season, a 2-2 draw in December 2017.
George Galbraith-Gibbons chose a good time to score his first senior goal for Hassocks with Spencer Slaughter also on target in a game that saw goalkeeper Nathan Stroomberg sent off for a WWE style choke slam on a Dockers player late in the second half.
The Robins’ home record against Newhaven isn’t much better either in truth, three victories out of seven leaving a head-to-head that reads 15 meetings, three Hassocks wins, three draws nine defeats.
That being said, the clash between the two at the Beacon earlier in the campaign really shouldn’t have resulted in the Dockers leaving the Beacon with all three points.
Hassocks gave one of their best performances of the season so far as Phil Johnson gave the Robins a shock lead which was cancelled with a minute of the first half remaining by Tristan Jarvis.
Tom Cooklin then netted what proved to be the winner just past the hour mark as despite Hassocks dominating the game from that point on, the Dockers escaped with a 2-1 win.
This was much to the bemusement of their travelling support, who admitted afterwards that they weren’t sure how they’d got away with it.
Picking up results when not playing well is what all the most successful sides do though and there is no doubt that Newhaven fit that bill as they continue to stalk leaders Chichester City at the top of the table.
The Dockers have been absolutely flying in the league, winning 19, drawing four and losing just three of their games to date to sit second, three points behind Chi but with a game in hand.
Most of their success is fuelled by the goal scoring exploits of Lee Robinson, who has already passed 50 goals this season in all competitions and has a scarcely believable total in excess of 350 for the club.
In a day and age where players move at the slightest hint of money, such is loyalty is even more commendable and the Robins will know that they will need to stop Robinson if they are to have any hope of improving their poor record against Newhaven.
Newhaven haven’t won the Southern Combination League title since 1974 and they might not get a better chance to do so again than this season. With rumours continuing to swirl that the top two may also earn promotion, it seems likely that this will be Hassocks’ last meeting with them for some time.
Kick off is at 3pm at the Trafalgar Ground.
