Last season’s Southern Combination League Under 23 West Division champions Horsham YMCA host the runners up Hassocks as the campaign enters its fourth week.
YM ended up winning the title by eight clear points but it was actually much closer than that over the course of most of the campaign.
The two sides were pretty much neck-and-neck right up until mid-April. And while Hassocks managed to pick up only one point from their final five games, YM embarked on an imperious run with their first championship at Under 23 level being all but confirmed when they defeated the Robins 2-1 at Gorings Mead.
First half goals from Bradley Ross and Leon Eales did the damage. James Littlejohn did manage to pull one back for the Robins on the hour mark to set up a tense final 30 minutes but Hassocks were unable to force an equaliser.
The previous meeting had finished 1-1 at the Beacon, Christopher Maxted’s opener for YM being cancelled out by an equaliser from Connor Bradley early in the second half.
Both sides have endured mixed starts to the new campaign. Hassocks lost their opening day fixture 2-1 at home to Oakwood but bounced back by winning away at Broadbridge Heath by the same scoreline a fortnight ago.
Joe Bull and Jake Atherton scored that day while the Robins’ game with early league leaders Pagham that had been due to take place last week was postponed.
YM meanwhile began their title defence with a shock defeat at home to Heath, losing 2-1 at Gorings Mead. They’ve won their subsequent two fixtures and are scoring goals for fun, hammering Worthing United 4-1 and then beating Arundel 5-2. Both of those games were away from home.
There could be a familiar face in opposition with Jake Lindsey having started two of YM’s three games so far. The teenage striker left the Beacon in the summer after scoring 11 times in 52 appearances over the course of the previous 18 months for the Robins’ first team.
Kick off at Gorings Mead is at the slightly earlier time of 7.30pm.
