Hassocks Under 23s get their campaign underway against Southern Combination Under 23 West Division newcomers Oakwood at the Beacon.
This will be the Oaks first ever game at this level of football, having only founded their side this summer. The new feeling isn’t only restricted to the visitors as this will also be Dave John’s first competitive game in charge of Hassocks following him taking over the reigns from Nigel Pearce.
Several of Pearce’s successful squad have departed the Beacon as well having delivered runners up finishes in the past two seasons, with the majority heading to St Francis Rangers for first team football.
As a result, it will be a young side which John fields in the coming campaign. The new boss looks set to rely on many of the players who delivered a treble under his tutelage for the Under 18s in the 2018-19 season.
The Robins have had a good pre-season, defeating a strong Lindfield side from the Mid Sussex Premier Division 3-1 before going down 2-1 to Balcombe – with a certain Phil Gault on target for the opposition.
Gault hadn’t even hit the 50 goal mark in Hassocks colours the last time the Robins met Oakwood outside of senior football.
That came in the 2010-11 season when the Reserves ran out 3-0 winners over their Oaks counterparts in the first round of the Sussex Intermediate Cup. Logan Newington, Daley Clark and Stuart Brown were the men on target at the Beacon.
The most recent league meetings took place in the old Reserve Premier Division in the 2007-08 campaign. A Calum Murray brace and a Chris Brown effort gave Hassocks a 3-1 win in the April meeting at the Beacon with the Oakmen triumphing 1-0 at Tinsley Lane two months earlier.
Kick off at the Beacon is at 7.45pm and entrance is £3 for adults with concessions and under 16s going free. Both the Robins Bar and the T Bar will be open throughout the evening.
