The relatively short trip to Crawley Down Gatwick is next up for Hassocks as the Robins travel to the Haven Centre, scene of some extraordinary games between the Anvils and the Robins through the years.
Nobody will ever forget Hassocks’ ridiculous 6-4 victory there in Ashley Marsh’s 500th game back in November 2016. Virtually everything that was aimed in the vague direction of the goal from both sides seemed to fly in as braces from Nathan Miles and Jordan Badger and further goals from Jamie Hillwood and James Westlake secured all three points for the Robins.
That was the last occasion that they won away at Down and it’s just one of a number of entertaining fixtures to have taken place there throughout the years. Goals are pretty much guaranteed – in 16 meetings between the two sides, Hassocks have scored 31 times with Down notching 29 of their own along the way.
The Robins lead the head-to-head with eight wins to the Anvils six and only two draws and this will actually be the third game between the two sides in 2018-19.
The previous two took place at the Beacon, one in the Southern Combination League Premier Division and one in the Sussex Principal RUR Charity Cup. The most recent of those came in October when Down left Mid Sussex with all three points courtesy of goals from Nick Sullivan and Harry Petty in a 2-1 win. Phil Johnson scored for Hassocks. T
That was preceded by the RUR cup meeting in August when Johnson was again on target along with Liam Benson to send Hassocks into the third round of the competition via a 2-1 success of their own. Sam Cane netted for Down with Hassocks going onto to eliminate Seaford Town before falling to local rivals Haywards Heath Town in the quarter finals.
Those three points that Paul Cooper’s side picked up at the Beacon have proven to be very handy it what has been another solid campaign for Down in their third season back in the Premier League.
They currently sit in ninth spot in the table but have climbed as high as the dizzy heights of fifth. Inconsistency has been their main barrier to sustaining that sort of lofty position; while they’ve beaten the likes of Eastbourne Town and AFC Uckfield Town and drawn with Saltdean Unuted, they’ve also dropped points against lowly Little Common and Arundel.
Those struggles against sides lower down the table have been there for all to see in the past couple of weeks. Last Saturday, they were held 1-1 at home to East Preston and the previous weekend they went down 1-0 away at Langney Wanderers.
That means that Hassocks will surprisingly enter the clash in the better form with Down not having won for three weeks. Mark Dalgleish’s side of course won impressively 4-0 at home to Pagham in their previous outing.
Kick off at the Haven Centre on Saturday is at 3pm.
