You wait years to face Langney Wanderers and then you get four meetings in one season. This Saturday will represent the final one of those for Hassocks as Simon Colbran brings his side to the Beacon in Southern Combination League Premier Division action.
Before the start of the 2018-19 season, Hassocks had never faced Langney Wanderers in a competitive game at senior football.
That was hardly a surprise though given the remarkable rise that Wanderers have been on sicne they were founded as a Sunday League team a decade ago.
In 10 years, they’ve gone from the Lewes & District Sunday League to the top flight of the Southern Combination and they look like they should be on course to better last year’s 15th placed finish.
That left them a comfortable 10 points clear of the relegation zone, largely thanks to a blistering end of season run under the management of the wily Kenny McCreadie.
McCreadie departed suddenly a month into the new season and his place at the helm has been taken by Simon Colbran, a vastly experienced operator at this level most notable for his time in charge of Crowborough Athletic who led from Division Two to Premier Division champions in a short space of time during the mid 2000’s.
Colbran has steadied the ship since his arrival and has a talented squad at his disposal as Hassocks found out when we met twice in the space of seven October days.
Langney won the first of those meetings 4-0 at Priory Lane in the league before triumphing 4-2 in the Peter Bentley League Cup at the Beacon a week later.
Those two games were in stark contrast to the FA Cup meeting between the two here in August when goals from Jack Rowe-Hurst and Matt Berridge gave the Robins a 2-0 success.
Throw in the two draws from two Premier Division meetings last season and you’ve got a fixture that neither side is yet to truly dominate.
Those stalemates both finished 2-2 and both featured late levellers, Jordan Badger rescuing a point at Priory Lane in the 89th minute for Hassocks and Tyler Capon doing likewise for Langney in the return fixture here in March.
Goodness knows what will happen this time around, but Hassocks will be hoping for a better result than those two previous meetings four months ago.
The Robins should come into the game in good heart. On Tuesday night, they’d trailed Horsham YMCA 2-1 with five minutes remaining and yet somehow found a way to win with goals from Phil Johnson and George Galbraith-Gibbons.
Wanderers have been in decent form themselves lately too. They defeated in-form Pagham 1-0 last weekend and put a further dent in the title hopes of their local rivals Eastbourne Town when drawing 2-2 at the Saffrons in an Eastbourne Derby a week earlier.
Kick off at the Beacon is at 3pm and entrance is priced at £6 adults, £3 concessions with Under 16s going free. The Robins Bar will be open for beer and hot food and drink is available from the T Bar.
Our award winning matchday programme will be on sale for just £1 and there is also a raffle with money-can’t-buy prizes.
As always, please keep an eye on our social media channels for details of any postponements, especially with Storm Dennis set to hit in the run up to kick off.
