For the second week running, Hassocks face one of the sides battling to finish in second spot behind champions elect Chichester City.
Last Saturday it was Eastbourne Town who visited the Beacon. This time the opponents will be Horsham YMCA with the Robins travelling to Gorings Mead, a venue that hasn’t been the happiest of hunting grounds for them over the years.
Hassocks have won their just three times in the league this century with both of this coming before YM’s last Southern Combination League championship which came in 2006.
There most recent success at Gorings Mead came in the FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round six seasons ago when goals from Nick Pitcher, Nathan Miles and Jamie Hillwood won an enthralling game 3-2 for Mickey Jewell’s side.
The Robins have picked up a few impressive draws there since including in Mark Dalgleish and Phil Wickwar’s first game in charge in December 2014, another high scoring encounter which ended 3-3 and featured a rare goal for Ashley Marsh. Tom Davess and Phil Johnson were also on target that day.
YM’s domination of the fixture will no doubt give Peter Buckland’s side confidence that they can take another step closer to promotion.
With two teams expected to be elevated into the Bostik League come the end of the campaign, YM are currently leading the way for that second promotion spot behind Chi.
They sit second in the league although Newhaven, a point ahead of Eastbourne Towen in third and three clear of fourth placed Newhaven, although the Dockers do have a game in hand.
That YM are still in the race at all is impressive given that they endured a terrible run of form around the turn of the year, having led the way for most of the first half of the campaign.
YM were in the midst of that awful run when they came to the Beacon back in January and Hassocks took full advantage to win 5-3 in one of the Robins’ best performances of the season.
A brace from Johnson against his former club and goals from Will Broomfield and James Littlejohn sent Hassocks into the break with a 4-0 lead after a devastating half of football.
YM pulled one back through Guy Harding just past the hour mark but any hopes of a comeback were dashed within 120 seconds when Liam Benson made it 5-1.
Two goals in the final throes of five minutes of stoppage time added a little bit of respectably to the scoreline from the visitors perspective but it was a comfortable victory for Hassocks even if Buckland did try to claim that the hosts were “hanging on” for the final 20 minutes despite having a four-goal advantage for 17 of them.
Whilst Buckland’s version of events on that day could be disputed, what cannot be is the fact that YM are one of the best sides in the league. Hassocks have only beaten them 12 times in 47 attempts and Dalgleish and his players will know that they will need to be at their best if they are to return to Mid Sussex with anything for their efforts.
