The Southern Combination Premier Division’s two longest serving clubs meet at Mill Road on Tuesday night with both looking for their first league wins of the season.
Winless so far Arundel may be, but it’s been a solid start to the season for the Mullets. They’re unbeaten having chalked up three draws from three league games so far and made impressive progress in the FA Cup, hammering Chertsey Town 4-1 to set up a Preliminary Round tie with Herne Bay this coming Saturday.
That continues their impressive form in the second half of last season. When Arundel visited the Beacon in December, they were deep in relegation trouble with manager Richard Towers having handed in his resignation a matter of weeks previously.
The Mullets accepted his decision to stand down but when the search for a replacement didn’t yield any standout candidates, they returned to Towers and asked him to retake the reigns.
Despite the new boss being the old boss, Arundel still received the new manager bounce so many clubs experience and a reinvigorated Towers led them to survival. They finished the season in 17th spot, one position and two points better off than Hassocks.
Towers has since stepped down again to be replaced by his former assistant Simon Hull in his first job as a manager at senior level.
The Mullet’s 4-0 win at the Beacon on that December day had differing consequences for both clubs. For Arundel, it hauled them out of the relegation zone for the first time that season.
For Hassocks, being hammered at home by one of the few sides who started the day below them in the table was a huge blow to the Robins already fragile confidence. They didn’t win again for another four months on their way to finishing inside the bottom three for the first time in 24 years.
You’d have got long odds on that being the case on the opening day of the season, the last time the two sides met at Mill Road.
Hassocks ran up their biggest opening day victory since 1996, winning 3-0 at Mill Road through goals from Liam Benson, Spencer Slaughter and Michael Death.
A decade ago, that result would’ve been considered a miracle given how poor the Robins record at Arundel was. Before 2007, they’d not tasted victory in the shadow of Arundel Castle for as long as even the most loyal Robins fans could remember.
A 2-0 there at the start of the 2007-08 season changed all that, and since then Hassocks have won four and drawn three of their last 10 visits to Mill Road.
In the 46 previous meetings between the Robins and the Mullets, the draw has been the most common result with 17 encounters having ended level.
Hassocks have won on 16 occasions and Arundel on 14 with the Robins having notched 77 goals compared to the Mullets 70.
Kick off is 7.45pm and admission is priced at £5 adults and £2 concessions.
