The Beacon hosts a double header this season as the newly crowed Sussex Women’s Challenge Trophy winners Hassocks Ladies look to give themselves a chance at further silverware after the Under 18s have hosted Southwick.
The Ladies host Saltdean United in the semi finals of the South East Counties Women’s League Cup in a game that been due to take place last week but has been hastily rearranged after falling to Storm Freya.
The Robins are the defending champions but they’ll have their work cut out against a Tigers side who are second in the division above.
Hassocks lifted the trophy despite their relegation from the Premier Division last season with their place in the top flight being taken by Saltdean. United have had no issues adjusting to their first season at the higher level, having won 10 of their 15 league games.
Leaders Crawley Wasps have already sewn up the title with their place as the best side in the league confirmed by a 2-1 win over the Tigers last week. That leaves Saltdean with just this competition to aim at in order to add silverware to the Hill Park trophy cabinet, making them particularly dangerous opponents for the Robins to face.
Hassocks meanwhile are enjoying a spectacular season having won every game they’ve played since an FA Cup defeat to Islington Borough back in September. That culminated in Thursday night’s brilliant 2-1 win over Burgess Hill Town to become county champions for the first time ever.
They are not strangers to surprising teams from higher divisions either having delivered their best performance of the season when hammering Premier side Worthing 7-2 in the quarter finals.
Kick off is at 1.30pm and entrance to the game is free. The winners will face either Ashford or Burgess Hill in the final, making the prospect of a Robins v Hillians derby in another final a tantalising prospect should both the Mid Sussex outfits win.
Before the Ladies take to the field, the Under 18s host a Southwick side who are the only team that could yet prevent the Central Divison title going to Haywards Heath Town.
The Wickers still have a remarkable eight games of the season remaining and if they win all of those, they’ll finish on 39 points. That’s the total that Heath are currently on with two fixtures of their own remaining.
Should Hassocks win this one then, it won’t matter what Heath do in their final two games as the championship will be going from the Beacon to Hanbury Park regardless.
This will be the first meeting of the season between the Robins and Southwick. Hassocks will know what tough opponents they can be though having endued two of their toughest games of the previous title winning campaign against the Wickers.
The Robins only defeat of the season came away at Old Barn Way back in September 2017. They then had to work extremely hard to win the return at the Beacon, eventually triumphing 2-0 thanks to goals from George Galbraith-Gibbons and Jake Lindsey.
Kick off in the Under 18s game is at 11am and entrance to both is free. The T Bar will be open serving hot food and drinks throughout the day.
