Hassocks boss Mark Dalgleish moved to strengthen his squad last week by bringing two familiar faces back to the Beacon.
The Robins completed the signings of both defender Bradley Tighe from Lancing and midfielder James Westlake who has spent the past year concentrating on his burgeoning running career.
Last Saturday’s game with Lingfield was Westlake’s first competitive action since the Robins’ 4-0 defeat away at Saltdean United on December 30th last year.
Since then, he has finished seventh out of every single British entrant in the London Marathon, set a new course record for the Worthing 10k winning in 00:30:31, won the Brighton 10 mile and finished 20th in the Toronto Marathon on his debut for England athletics with a PB of 2:23:05.
Westlake is now just nine games away from racking up a double century of appearances in a Hassocks shirt having first arrived at the club from St Francis Rangers towards the end of the 2010-11 season.
He left in the summer of 2013 for a two-season spell back at Colwell Road before re-joining the Robins from Haywards Heath Town in December 2015.
The energetic midfielder has racked up a respectable total of 28 goals in that time and was vice captain in the opening months of last season before stepping away to concentrate on his marathon commitments.
Tighe meanwhile returns to the club where he first made his name in senior football having come through the Hassocks youth ranks.
He made his debut as a 17-year-old under Dave John in the 2014-15 season, going onto make the right back position his own once Dalgleish and Phil Wickwar took the reigns in December of that year and playing a crucial role in the Great Escape from relegation that followed.
Tighe remained a first team regular for the next two seasons, going onto play 74 times for the Robins without managing to get on the scoresheet.
He had a little more success in front of goal for the Under 21s, netting two times in 13 appearances when turning out for Nigel Pearce’s side in the 2016-17 season, showing himself to be a real clubman by representing the Under 21s on a Thursday night and then turning out for the first team on a Saturday.
Tighe left the Robins in the summer of 2016 along with Jack Rowe-Hurst for a new challenge at Ringmer and he was a regular at the Caburn last season.
With Ringmer folding at the end of the campaign, he made the move to Lancing in the summer and played seven times for the Culver Road outfit before his transfer back to the Beacon.
