Hassocks Under 23s look to bounce back from dropping points against Broadbridge Heath last week with a tough looking trip to Arundel this Thursday night.
This is the Mullets first season running a side at this level of football and they are enjoying a relatively successful season, still being in the battle for a third place finish alongside Lancing, East Preston and possible Pagham.
Arundel have won six, draw five and lost five of their games so far this season and had they have managed to turn some of those stalemates into victories, they could have even joined Horsham YMCA and the Robins in the battle of the title.
They showed their quality last time out, pushing YM all the way at Gorings Mead before succumbing to a 3-2 defeat. That took place three weeks ago on February 21st which means they will be well rested ahead of this one at Mill Road with Hassocks having played for the past two Thursdays with that draw against Heath and a 5-2 win over Midhurst & Easebourne in the League Cup a fortnight ago.
With this being Arundel’s debut campaign, it also means it is the first time that the Robins and the Mullets have met at Under 23 level.
The previous clash between the two in intermediate football came in the 2016-17 season when Arundel Reserves came to the Beacon to face Hassocks Under 21s in the second round of the Sussex Intermediate Cup with the Robins winning 1-0 through a Jake Booth goal.
Prior to that, there were regular clashes in the days when the Southern Combination League ran a reserve section. The last league meetings at that level came in 2014-15 with a 2-2 draw on the Robins previous visit to Mill Road in January 2015 in which Booth and Luke Pawson netted. Prior that, Booth was again on target in August 2014 when the Mullets left Mid Sussex with all three points via a 2-1 win.
If Nigel Pearce’s side are to take anything from the game, then they’ll need to stop the West Division’s top goalscorer Dion Jarvis, who has 17 goals to his name this season.
The Mullets are also likely to include the dangerous Benajmin Gray, who scored at the Beacon in January in their first team’s 2-0 win over Mark Dalgleish’s front side with Arundel sharing a selection policy similar to that of Hassocks of having several players who play both first team and Under 23 football with Jarvis and Gray just two examples.
Kick off at Mill Road on Thursday night is at 7.45pm.
