The draw for the first round of the Sussex Senior Cup has been made with Hassocks facing a trip to Division One side Midhurst & Easebourne on Tuesday 6th October.
It will be the first meeting between the two clubs since the 2016-17, when we paired together in the third round of the Sussex Principal RUR Charity Cup in one of the first matches to ever take place under the newly installed lights at Rotherfield.
Extra time was needed to separate the sides on that occasion after the 90 minutes finished with the score 0-0 after a dour spectacle. Thankfully, things sparked into life in the additional 30. Substitute Liam Benson opened the scoring in the 95th minute with Phil Gault adding a second five minutes later.
Ben Kamplen pulled one back for Midhurst a couple of minutes after the interval to leave a nervy finish but much to the travelling contingent’s relief, the Robins were able to hold on which avoided the drama of penalties and an even later arrival back in Mid Sussex.
Hassocks went onto be eliminated away at Crawley Down Gatwick in the quarter finals, the Anvils denying the Robins what would have been just a third appearance in the last four of the competition.
This will be the third time that Hassocks and Midhurst have met in the Sussex Senior Cup. The first came in the second round of the 1986-87 competition when the Stags ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.
The second occasion was a much more pleasant experience as we won 3-1 at Rotherfield in September 2015. All the goals arrived in the second half as Josh Hawkes, Spencer Slaughter and Jonno Melia were on target with the Midhurst consolation being mired in controversy.
There had been a very clear foul on goalkeeper George Willett in the build up and yet George Morris’ scrambled effort was still allowed to stand, much to the anger of the away dugout and the laughter of the hosts’ bench.
In total, Hassocks have met Midhurst on seven occasions, winning five and losing two. Kick off in game number eight will be at 7:45pm.
