Attention switches to the Sussex Principal RUR Charity Cup tomorrow night at the Beacon as Hassocks host Pagham in the second round of the competition.
With neither side having enjoyed the best opening few weeks to the Premier Division campaign, the meeting is a chance for both to forget their league woes and possibly make progress towards a Culver Road final come the end of the season.
Pagham’s slow start can be attributed to the fact that it was a ridiculously busy summer at Nyetimber Lane as the Lions brought in a new manager and an entire new squad.
Bob Paine is now the man at the helm having moved west from East Preston, an appointment that the Lions hoped would arrest a decline that saw them pick up just 14 points from 23 games from November onwards last season.
Prior to that, they had accumulated 31 from 15, which had them well in the title race alongside Horsham YMCA and eventual champions, Chichester City.
Obviously, when a club makes such wholesale changes as Pagham have then it can take time to gel, something the Lions are experiencing as their currently second bottom with one win from seven games.
Hassocks fans won’t need any reminding about where that one win came from either. It was of course on the Robins’ long trip west on Tuesday 20th August, Lewis Jenkins scoring the only goal of the game with just nine minutes remaining to deny the Robins what would have been a hard-earned point.
Perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised by that though. After all, Hassocks do have a terrible record against the Lions in recent years, having lost nine of the previous 11 meetings stretching back to 2014
The Robins’ only win since then against Pagham came here in the Premier Division last year, a 4-0 success thanks to goals from Liam Benson, Will Broomfield and a Phil Johnson double.
That hasn’t made much difference to the overall head-to-head, which the Lions still lead by some way, having won 26 games to the Robins’ 17 with nine draws.
Things don’t get much better in this competition either. Pagham have won all three of the previous meetings in the RUR Cup.
The most recent of those came in the 2003-04 season while older fans will remember the heartbreak of a 2-0 extra time defeat in the semi final of the competition in the 1993-94 season.
You can see if Hassocks are able to avenge that loss with kick off tomorrow at 7.45pm. Entrance is £6 adults, £3 concessions and Under 16s go free and both the Robins Bar and the T Bar will be serving alcohol and hot food and drink.
For those travelling to the Beacon from the north, please be aware that four way temporary traffic lights at Stone Pound crossroads are causing havoc for cars trying to come through the village.
