After three cup games in their last four fixtures, it’s back to the bread and butter of Southern Combination League football for Hassocks with a tough looking test away at one of the Premier Division title favourites, Eastbourne Town.
Town have made a blistering start to the season and are yet to lose in the league, sitting in second place with four wins and a draw from their five opening games, scoring 14 times and conceding just once.
That’s an ominous sign for the rest of the pretenders to the crown. Since their return to the Southern Combination League in 2014, Town have been slow to start every campaign which is ultimately what has cost them in the title race.
Last time around, they picked up just one win from their first six games across all competitions before beginning to build up some momentum which saw them finish in third place.
The fact that they seem to have ironed out that problem suggests this could be John Lambert’s side’s year. If they can combine the start they’ve made with the strong finish they normally put in, then there is every chance that the title could be winding its way to the Saffrons come the end of the season.
All of which makes the Robins’ task on the Sunshine Coast seem like an impossible one. But Hassocks can take heart from the way in which they pushed leaders Lancing – the only side above Town in the table – all the way in their last league outing on August Bank Holiday Monday.
There have also been some highly encouraging results for Mark Dalgleish’s men in the national cup competitions. Isthmian League side Chipstead needed a couple of highly contentious decisions to advance 3-2 in an FA Cup Preliminary Qualifying Round replay on Tuesday night while the Robins comfortably swatted aside Meridian Valley Park from the Southern Counties East League in the FA Vase last Sunday.
Should Hassocks pull off a shock win, it would be their first at the Saffrons since 2006. Stuart Faith got the only goal that day in a 1-0 win for Dave John’s side, since when a couple of creditable draws are all that the Robins have to show from their visits.
Overall, there have been 34 meetings between Eastbourne Town and the Robins with Town winning over half of them – 19 – to the Robins nine with six draws along the way.
24 of those meetings have taken place in the Premier Division and Town again lead the head-to-head, Hassocks having won just once in the past 12 years – a shock 2-1 success at the Beacon towards the end of the 2016-17 season with Phil Gault scoring twice and James Broadbent saving a penalty against his former club.
Kick off at the Saffrons is at 3pm.
