Hassocks captain Jordan Badger made his 100th appearance for the Robins in last Saturday’s 1-0 win at Shoreham, becoming the 47th player to pass a century of games for the club in senior football.
Badger joined Hassocks from Lewes two weeks into the 2016-17 season having found first team opportunities limited at the Dripping Pan.
The defender came through the ranks with the Rooks, winning Player of the Season at Under 18 level before going onto make a handful of senior appearances.
Badger’s most memorable moment for Lewes came when he was deployed from the bench as an emergency striker in the closing stages of a game away at Kingstonian.
He was sent on up front for the final five minutes with the instruction “Be a nuisance”. Badger said of the incident, “The whole of our bench were laughing at me, but I ended up scoring two and would’ve had a hat-trick but for a brilliant top onto the bar from the goalkeeper. Badge had the last laugh that day!”
His debut for Hassocks came against AFC Uckfield Town in the Peter Bentley League Cup in August 2016 and he showed that attacking prowess, nearly scoring twice on his first appearance.
The first opportunity saw a header from a James Westlake corner brilliantly saved by the Oakmen’s Matt Dann and then a harsh offside flag after Badger had come barreling forward to meet a Bradley Bant cross.
Badger did eventually net his first goal three months later, notching a brace in a ridiculous 6-4 win away at Crawley Down Gatwick.
He only missed six games in that 2016-17 campaign and was absent on only five occasions in 2017-18, the season in which he was handed the captains armband by Mark Dalgleish and Phil Wickwar after Ashley Marsh’s retirement.
At 22 years old, that made him the youngest club captain in Hassocks history and its proven to be an inspired decision with Badger playing as well as ever so far in the 2018-19 campaign.
He’s made 24 appearances scoring three goals so far this season, leaving him with a grand total of seven goals from 100 appearances.
Congratulations to Jordan for reaching the century milestone.
