The destination of the the Southern Combination League Under 23 West Division title could go a long way to being decided on Thursday night as the two sides left in contention meet at Gorings Mead.
Leaders Horsham YMCA will welcome an out-of-sorts Hassocks as the two outstanding sides in the section meet with only a handful of games left to be played.
It’s YM who currently lead the way, three points clear of the Robins but having played a game more. They’ll have one more fixture left after the top-of-the-table clash while Hassocks have to play twice more and currently have a better goal difference by a margin of six.
The Robins will travel to Horsham in their worst form of the season however. They were well beaten 4-0 away at Arundel last week and a fortnight ago saw their hopes of lifting the Under 23 League Cup for the first time ended after a 3-1 defeat to East Preston at the semi final stage.
YM meanwhile are unbeaten in 10 league games stretching back to a 3-2 loss away at Mile Oak at the start of November. That’s one of only two West Division defeats that they’ve suffered all season, the other coming on the opening day of the campaign when they were on the wrong end of a 12 goal thriller in going down 7-5 to Midhurst & Easebourne.
There was nothing to separate the two in their last meeting, a 1-1 draw at the Beacon back in December. Chris Maxted gave the visitors the lead with virtually the last kick of the first half but Hassocks recovered well from the psychological blow of conceding so close to the break with Connor Bradley levelling things up 11 minutes after the restart with his fifth goal of the season from midfield.
Last season, the sides shared one win apiece in their meetings last season. Hassocks won 2-1 away at Gorings Mead in September 2017 thanks to goals from Sean Rayland and Max Willcox.
The home fixture at the Beacon was decided in YM’s favour by the same scoreline with Willcox again netting. That defeat all but ended Hassocks’ hopes of lifting the title as they ended the campaign in second spot but some way adrift of champions Pagham. Nigel Pearce and his side will be hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself again.
Kick off at Gorings Mead is at 7.30pm.
