Two sides who have suffered very similar seasons in the mid table of the Southern Combination League Under 23 West Division will meet at Mill Road as Hassocks make the trip to face Arundel.
The Robins will go into the tie marginally better off than the Mullets having racked up 14 points through four wins, two draws and six defeats.
Arundel meanwhile are one point worse off although they do have two games in hand. Their record reads four wins, one draw and five defeats from 10 fixtures.
In a sign of how close these two sides are, nothing could separate them when they met earlier in the season either. George Galbraith-Gibbons and James Westlake were on target for the Robins with Luke Jearum and Harry Callaghan replying for the visitors as they shared a 2-2 draw at the Beacon at the end of January.
That wasn’t the first time that Callaghan had proven to be a handful for Hassocks. The young winger had given the Robins’ first team back line a torrid evening when the sides met in the Sussex Senior Cup at Mill Road in a crazy game which all the way to extra time.
Hassocks eventually triumphed 6-4 at Mill Road. If this latest visit to the picturesque home on the banks of the River Arun has even half of the entertainment which that October evening did, then those making the trip will be in for a real treat.
A similar result to that achieved by the first time on that October evening would also go part of the way towards eliminating the Under 23s last experience of Mill Road.
That came in April last year. Second placed Hassocks arrived knowing that victory would set up a winner-takes-all clash with leaders Horsham YMCA at Gorings Mead the following week.
Arundel hadn’t read the script though and duly hammered Hassocks 4-0 through goals from Jack Kates, Patricio Gomes and Harry Russell.
A week later and the Robins lost 2-1 at Gorings Mead, which all-but guaranteed the title as YM’s. The other league meeting between Hassocks and Arundel in 2018-19 ended 1-1 two weeks later. James Littlejohn notching the Robins goal.
Kick off at Mill Road is at 7.45pm.
