Hassocks play their first Saturday 3pm league game of the season
It has taken until October, but Hassocks will finally play a Saturday 3pm Southern Combination League Premier Division fixture.
The visitors are AFC Varndeanians, familiar foes to the Robins who only visited the Beacon a little over four weeks ago. They enjoyed that stay, eliminating Hassocks from the Peter Bentley League Cup via a 2-0 win.
That game took place when the Robins were going through their stage of playing well but being unable to score.
The last two matches have seen a marked improvement in that department, five goals being plundered and four points taken from tough fixtures at home to promotion hopefuls Broadbridge Heath and on the road at Loxwood.
If Hassocks can continue that sort of form and claim three points against Varndeanians, then they could find themselves in the top six come 5pm.
AFC Varndeanians this season
Varndeanians had the ultimate season of two halves in 2021-22, failing to win any of their opening 25 games in all competitions.
The return to Withdean Stadium of Ryan Gayler as manager sparked a remarkable turnaround and from a hopeless position at the foot of the table in mid-December, they were one of the form sides in the second half of the campaign to eventually finish outside of the bottom two.
Gayler and his players have continued where they left off so far in 2022-23 and look like they should avoid the battle at the bottom this time around.
Three wins, two draws and four defeats has them in lower mid table – with the Robins only too aware of the threat they pose following their victory at the Beacon earlier in the campaign.
Hassocks v AFC Varndeanians head-to-head
Last season was the first time that Hassocks and Varndeanians had ever met in competitive football at senior level.
That means the head-to-head shows the Robins’ 4-1 win at the Beacon in October, Vs’ 1-0 victory down the A23 in February and that Peter Bentley Cup clash last month.
The old Hassocks IIIs did though used to cross swords with Vs regularly when they were known as Old Varndeanians during their Mid Sussex Football League days in the 2000s.
Varndeanians tended to have the better of the fixture, although there was one very famous Robins success when Simon Maskell’s side pulled off a shock by winning the Montgomery Cup in 2004.
A young Robins team including an 18-year-old Ashley Marsh, a 16-year-old Sam Fisk and a 62-year-old Robbie Kitchen drew 2-2 after extra time.
Paul Eldret and Tom Hall got the Hassocks goals, cancelling out efforts from Dave Bridges and Mark Lloyd to take the final to penalties.
Matt Charman pulled off a couple of crucial stops and that meant the ’Monty’ came back to Hassocks, 44 years after the first team had lifted it as a Mid Sussex League club.
Last time Hassocks played AFC Varndeanians
A strange evening of Peter Bentley Cup football in which Hassocks were totally dominant, racked up countless opportunities but lost 2-0. Ali Rainford and Fin Bigg scored the goals in the space of 10 minutes early in the second half.
Varndeanians were subsequently beaten in the third round of the competition on Monday night, losing 4-1 at home to Loxwood.
The Magpies have been in excellent form, having also beaten Horsham YMCA 4-1 during the final round of September midweek fixtures.
Hassocks winning 2-0 at the Nest sandwiched between those two results looks even more impressive in that context.
Matchday information
Kick off is at 3:00pm and admission is £7 adults, £3 concessions and free for under 16s. Both card and cash payments are accepted on the turnstiles.
The T Bar will be open serving hot food and drink and the Robins Bar has a wide selection of craft beer from local breweries, along with other alcohol.
Dogs are welcome and a 48 page printed matchday programme will be on sale for £1.
