There’s Tuesday night action for Hassocks this week with the Robins set for another big game in their quest to avoid relegation from the Premier Division away at Saltdean United.
This will be the second attempt to get the game played. With no other Mid Sussex club in the Premier Division this season, we had been due to face a Boxing Day trip to Hill Park to take on the Tigers in our ‘local derby’ game.
Thankfully, that was postponed and instead we got a Christmas off with the rearranged game coming when the Robins seem to have played themselves into a bit of form having won two out of their four games since the start of 2020.
Saltdean are having a bit of a hit-and-miss campaign so far with manager Tom Betts leaving a couple of months ago to be replaced by Shoreham’s Premier Division title winning boss of a few seasons ago, Bryan O’Toole.
The disruption certainly hasn’t helped with the Tigers sitting in 15th place with seven wins, three draws and 13 defeats from 23 games so far.
That leaves them eight points clear of 19th placed Hassocks, although the Robins do have two games in hand – all of which makes this a huge fixture for both sides.
If Hassocks are to take anything from it, they’ll have to overcome their dire recent record against Saltdean. Since the Tigers won promotion to the Premier Division in 2017 after a lengthy absence, the Robins have failed to take a single point from them.
Hassocks’ to visits to Hill Park have both resulted in defeat by a three-goal margin. Last season, it was a 4-1 loss. Harry Mills gave the visitors a shock lead – followed by a typically exuberant celebration – but the joy was short lived as the Tigers came roaring back, going onto win 4-1 through goals from Robin Keen, Will Berry and a Curtis Gayler brace.
The 2017-18 season saw Hassocks on the end of a 3-0 defeat. Rob O’Toole, Ryan Warwick and former Bristol Rovers midfielder James Fraser were on the score sheet on a disappointing afternoon for the visitors.
Despite Hassocks’ struggles against Saltdean over the past few years, the overall head-to-head between the clubs is actually pretty even.
There have been 28 meetings to date with Hassocks having won 12 games and Saltdean 14, leaving just two draws. The Robins win total is largely helped by the sides clashes in Division One during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the Hassocks won six games out of six, scoring 19 goals and conceding just four along the way.
A return to that sort of form would be much welcomed by Mark Dalgleish and his players on this occasion. Kick off at Hill Park is at the slightly earlier time of 7.30pm.
