Hassocks Under 23s improved recent form will face a stiff test on Thursday night as Southern Combination League West Division title chasers Pagham come to the Beacon.
As we pass the halfway stage in the season, it looks like being a two horse race for the championship. Last season’s winners Horsham YMCA lead with 25 points from 10 games. Pagham are six points further back but crucially, they have two games in hand.
The Lions are no strangers to slugging it out for titles either. They were West Division champions in both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 season, beating Hassocks to the post in the second of those following a ding-dong battle which lasted right up until the final few weeks of the campaign, at which point Pagham pulled clear.
The Robins gained an element of revenge, completing the double over the Lions last season although that still wasn’t enough to bring the silverware to Mid Sussex ahead of YM.
Jake Lindsey and James Littlejohn got the goals in a 2-0 victory at the Beacon in September. The sides then met at Nyetimber Lane on Valentines Day with Littlejohn again on target, this time alongside Matt Berridge as the Robins ran out 2-0 winners.
That sort of form had deserted Hassocks this season until the past five weeks. Since then, they’ve won three consecutive games, hammering Lancing and Oakwood in the league and shocking YM in the Sussex Under 23 Challenge Cup.
Hassocks’ cause in those big victories against the Lancers and the Oaks were helped by the presence of Phil Johnson who scored five times across the two fixtures as part of his managed return from a broken leg.
The result against YM therefore probably offers more in terms of pointers for this clash with Pagham. It was only the second defeat that they’d suffered all season and if the Robins can replicate that showing, then they should be able to give the Lions something to think about on this occasion.
Kick off at the Beacon is at 7.45pm and entrance is £3 for adults with concessions and Under 16s going free. Both the T Bar and the Robins Bar will be open serving hot food and drink and alcohol – which you might well need if you’ve been to vote in the general election earlier in the day!
