VS HASSOCKS
FA TROPHY | FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND SATURDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2025 | KICK OFF 3PM
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN FC
The Vistavis Community Stadium College Lane | East Grinstead | RH19 3LS
Tel: 01342 325885
BUZZ FROM THE NEST
A warm welcome to our friends from Hassocks, whom we played regularly during our County League days. Today we face them as Step 4 rivals for the first time.
After a disappointing start to the season it was get to get the first W on the board last Saturday, allbeit after penalties against Binfield. Three goals scored in 90 minutes and then another four in the shootout and a much better overall performance.
Drew has hopefully added to the squad with some more new faces this week for what is the second of four successive home games. Our reward for progress in the Trophy (as well as £1600 prize money) is the opportunity to take on VCD Athletic here next Saturday - again, another winnable tie.
COME ON THE WASPS!
OWNERSHIP STATEMENT
In accordance with the Football Association's Rule 2.13 (publication of ownership) in relation to Step 1 to Step 6 Clubs within the National League System East Grinstead Town FC is an unincorporated association / members club and a Community Amateur Sports Club (reg no CASC 02270).
Followuson:
FROM THE Dugout
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to today’s fixture against newly promoted Hassocks.
We come in today’s game off the back of last week's FA Trophy win at home to Binfield. Generally it was a much better performance from the lads. The game got off to a nightmare start when a failed clearance allowed Binfield to score after only 20 seconds. But fair play to the group, this seemed to spark us into action. We dominated most of the possession and created the better chances generally over the 90 minutes.
We thought we won the game late on with James Law's strike but Binfield equalised and the game went to penalties. We had one 17 year-old and two 18 year-olds convert from the spot with the decisive kick being put away by Omar. We have had a good week with two good sessions and the lads are in good spirits and hopefully we might have some additions to strengthen the squad as well.
But we certainly won’t take anything for granted against what will be a well organised and disciplined Hassocks team.
We thank the fans as ever and look forward to two more home games on the bounce before the end of the month.
Drew
HASSOCKS TheAwayEnd
In 2002 Hassocks marked their centenary by facing an ex-Arsenal and Celebrity XI. Later in the year Steve Coppell took charge of Brighton and Hove Albion for the first time when the Seagulls visited the Beacon to open the new 237-seater Maurice Boxall Stand, funded in part by the previous season’s FA Cup run.
In 2007, the ground was improved further with the opening of a new clubhouse after a long fundraising and building process. The Beacon has regularly held Southern Combination League cup finals ever since, highlighting the excellent facilities at the ground.
The 2011-12 season saw Mickey Jewell lead Hassocks to what was then their highest ever finish of fourth in the Premier Division. A memorable campaign also saw the Robins reach the semi-final of the RUR Cup.
Jewell stepped down at the end of the 2013-14 season, replaced by club legend Dave John returning for a brief third spell at the helm alongside his duties as chairman. John was followed by Mark Dalgleish and Phil Wickwar, who produced a great escape from relegation in the second half of the 2014-15 season. Dalgleish and Wickwar continued to do well under difficult circumstances, defying the odds to avoid the drop despite being one of the only sides in the Premier Division not to pay their players.
The Robins’ proud run of never finishing in the bottom three of the topflight came to an end at the conclusion of the 2017-18 season, although they were spared relegation as only two sides went down. Wickwar stood down at the end of the campaign, leaving Dalgleish in sole charge for 2018-19. Hassocks were in the Premier Division’s bottom two when Covid-19 brought the 2019-20 season to a premature end, leading to Dalgleish’s departure after a decade at the Beacon.
John was back in charge for the 2020-21 season which again was curtailed due to the pandemic. John moved upstairs to become technical director ahead of the 2021-22 campaign, with Brad Sweetman stepping up to become first-team head coach from his role as U-18s manager.
A RECORD-BREAKING PROMOTION
Sweetman had been part of John’s management team that led the Under 18s to an historic treble in 2017-18, and now he and the players he had brought through the youth system and into the first team over the past five seasons had the opportunity to prove themselves at senior level. Hassocks ended the campaign in 16th spot and reached the semi-finals of the RUR Cup for the first time in a decade. Sweetman was replaced at the end of the season by fan favourite player James Westlake. His rebuilt squad made up of new faces and former favourites lured back to the Beacon finished 10th in 2022-23, securing the club’s first top half placing in nine years.
Better was to come in 2023-24. Hassocks acquired a club-record 78 points to finish fifth in the table, qualifying for the promotion playoffs for the first time. The Robins were eliminated by eventual winners Eastbourne Town.
John retired as chairman in the summer of 2024, ending over 33 years of day-to-day involvement in running the Robins. The club gave John the role of president in honour of his service and the Clubhouse bar at the Beacon was renamed the Dave John Lounge.
His final gift was the appointment of his successor. The second-highest goal scorer for Hassocks, Pat Harding, stepped straight from retirement as a player into the role of chairman, bringing ambitious new ideas to continue the Robins’ progress on and off the pitch. It did not take long for those ideas to bear fruit. The 2024-25 turned into the greatest season in the club’s history with eight trophies won across all three teams.
Westlake led Hassocks to their first ever Southern Combination League title. Their 97 points was the joint-second-most of any champions in the 21st century. The Robins finished 16 clear of runners up Crowborough Athletic, who they then beat 3-1 in the Peter Bentley League Cup final to secure the double.
Winning the Southern Combination League sees Hassocks promoted into the Isthmian League South East Division for 2025-26, bringing step four football to the village for the first time.
STANDINGS LEAGUE
FIXTURES & RESULTS
9 Aug A Whyteleafe
12 Aug H Three Bridges
23 Aug A Sittingbourne
South East
Rawlins Mon 25 Aug H Sevenoaks Town
30 Aug H Eastbourne Town
SEPTEMBER Sat 6 Sep H Binfield
Sat 13 Sep H Hassocks
South East 3pm
Sat 20 Sep H VCD Athletic FA Trophy 1st rd 3pm
Sat 27 Sep H Deal Town Isthmian South East 3pm Tue 30 Sep A Broadbridge Heath Velocity Trophy 7.45pm
OCTOBER
Sat 4 Oct A Beckenham Town Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 11 Oct H Crowborough Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm Tue 14 Oct A Hassocks Isthmian South East 7.45pm
Sat 18 Oct H Ashford United Isthmian South East 3pm Tue 21 Oct A Faversham Isthmian South East 7.45pm
Sat 25 Oct A Sheppey United Isthmian South East 3pm
NOVEMBER
Sat Nov 1 H Hastings United Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat Nov 8 A VCD Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm
Tue 11 Nov A Three Bridges Isthmian South East 7.45pm
Sat Nov 15 H Merstham Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat Nov 22 A Margate Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 29 Nov H AFC Whyteleafe Isthmian South East 3pm
DECEMBER
Sat 6 Dec A AFC Croydon Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 13 Dec H Herne Bay Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 20 Dec A Eastbourne Town Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 27 Dec H Jersey Bulls Isthmian South East 3pm
JANUARY
Sat 3 Jan A Sevenoaks Town Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 10 Jan H Erith Town Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 17 Jan H Broadbridge Heath Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 24 Jan A Crowborough Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm
FEBRUARY
Sat 7 Feb A Deal Town Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 14 Feb A Ashford United Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 21 Feb H Sheppey United Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 28 Feb A Hastings United Isthmian South East 3pm
MARCH
Sat 7 Mar H VCD Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 14 Mar A Herne Bay Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 21 Mar H AFC Croydon Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 28 Mar A Erith Town Isthmian South East 3pm
APRIL
Sat 4 Apr H Sittingbourne Isthmian South East 3pm
Mon 6 Apr A Jersey Bulls Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 11 Apr H Faversham Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 18 Apr A Merstham Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 25 Apr H Margate Isthmian South East 3pm
TEAM LINE UP
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. HASSOCKS
Rex Porter
Neo Wooster
Yashua Smith
Alex Andrade Filipe
Dan Cadman
Tom Cadman
Matt Weaire
Jay Richardson
Ollie Deurell Benito
Tyler Grant
Luke Harrison
George Griffiths
Powell Ukah
Warren Colman
Finlay Lovatt
Kian Price
James Laws
Liam Trevatt
Brady Ayoola
Joe Hasler
Terrique Hall-Anderson
Matt Daniel
Omar Folkes
Ollie Rawlins
Mason Saunders
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN HISTORY
PROGRAMMES FROM THE PAST BY LESTER MEDCALF
It's a few years since we last played Hassocks and I'm going to share with you the programmes for a couple of games we played against them in the Sussex County League.
I'll start with an away match Hassocks v East Grinstead on Monday 3 January 2011. The club notes remind us that Hassocks had beaten us 1-0 at East Court in August, and that we had since changed our manager with Tony Beckingham replacing Steve Johnson. Since then we'd “had a steady stream of results and might challenge for a top 5 finish”.
The notes go on to talk about the bad winter weather during December which restricted Hassocks to two matches with their reserves and third teams not playing at all in December. (And our first team had only played once in December.) One of Hassocks' December matches had been an impressive Sussex Senior Cup 2-1 win over Whitehawk, with a home game against Horsham in the next round. Later in the programme we have the Hassocks match report from that early season game at East Court with “a stunning strike from Spencer Slaughter after just 6 minutes” doing the damage. The programme's league table shows Hassocks in fifth place with us three places below them, though we had two games in hand. One surprise element in our positions was that we had drawn just one league match while Hassocks had drawn seven of their league games. The January match started at 11 am and both sides had early chances. But after some 25 minutes Richard Sinden gave us the lead. Early in the second half and Liam Baitup took advantage of a defensive mistake to score number two and with 10 minutes to go John Paul Collier made it 3-0. Interesting that Drew Cooney was part of our team while the son – Scott – of one of our club helpers Alan Woolley came on as a sub for the last few minutes.
CUP SUCCESS AT EAST COURT
A couple of seasons later and we have East Grinstead v Hassocks on Tuesday 10 September 2013 in a second round Sussex County League Cup match.
Richard Tramontin's club notes tell us that the visitors from Hassocks had made “a great start to the season” with a couple of FA Cup wins while in Sussex County League division one they had just dropped points in their four matches. As it happened they had dropped those points in a 2-2 draw at home to us! We might well have deprived them of all three points except that they scored their second goal in the very last minute. Marc Pelling had scored both of our goals in the first half to give us a two-goal lead.
The programme does have a league table though this early in the season it didn't mean too much. Hassocks were sharing the lead at the top while we were in the middle of the league with one win and one defeat and a couple of draws.
Team manager Simon Funnell talks about a recent FA Vase win against AFC Uckfield (one division below us). They had taken a surprise lead early in the second half and for a long time it looked as if they would hang on. However, Steve Johnson and then Matt Geard had come to our rescue in the last 10 minutes for a 2-1 FA Vase win.
And, as it happens, a 2-1 win came our way in the County League Cup match against Hassocks. An early goal from Sam Schaaf and then a second-half penalty from Matt Geard gave us the win. I wasn't at the game and I don't know when Hassocks had scored.
If your memory has been jogged by this article then I’d be happy to hear from you at lestermedcalf@btinternet.com.
BINFIELD BEATEN IN TROPHY
Neo Wooster (above) scores his first Grinstead goal and, below, Ollie Rawlins lets fly in our FA Trophy win a week ago.
MATCH ACTION
MEET THE 2025-26 SQUAD
Rex Porter
Goalkeeper Rex joined us from Bromley in the summer on a season-long loan. At 17 he already has the physical attributes to be a good keeper.
Neo Wooster
Midfielder is a product of the Dorking FC academy and has gained first team experience at Dorking and Lancing last season.
Alex Andrade Filipe
Experienced defender who joined the club in 2023 and has made more than 70 appearances since then.
Dan Cadman
Younger brother of Tom and, like his sibling, a full-back. Previous clubs include Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill Town.
Tom Cadman
Tom is a versatile player who has played for multiple clubs at this level and above including Burgess Hill, Whitehawk and Haywards Heath. Into his second spell with the Wasps, for whom his dad and grandfather also played.
Matt Weaire
Central defender who joined the club in July 2023. Was a youngster with Brighton and Colchester United before spells in non-league at Lewes and Cray Wanderers.
Jay Richardson
After being in our youth system, Jay has been part of the Dorking Wanderers academy and made several first team appearances at the club as well as on loan at both Bognor and Steying. An imposing central defender, Jay’s dad John also played for the club.
Ollie Deurell Benito
Another summer signing, Ollie played youth football for Kingstonian and London South Lions last season.
Luke Harrison
Midfielder Luke joined the club in November 2024 having previously played for Horsham YMCA and Worthing.
George Griffiths
Former Burgess Hill midfielder who joined the club in pre-season. Previous clubs also include Wimborne Town.
Powell Ukah
Another summer addition to the squad, Powell’s previous clubs include Banstead Athletic and Corinthian Casuals.
Warren Colman
Industrious midfielder who joined the club from Horley Town at the end of 2024 and quickly established himself in the team, making 22 appearances in the second half of last season.
Finlay Lovatt
Skilful attacking midfielder who was in Leyton Orient’s academy and had two years as a pro with Bromley in the National League. Has also played for Dulwich Hamlet and Beckenham Town amongst others before joining the Wasps in 2024.
James Laws
Another product of Dorking Wanderers’ academy, attacking midfielder James scored against Crawley Town in our pre-season friendly in July.
Liam Trevatt
Midfielder Liam joined the club this summer, having previously played for Reigate Priory.
Brady Ayoola
Midfielder Brady joined the club in March 2025 and went on to make 12 appearances.
Joe Hasler
Another product of Dorking Wanderers’ academy, striker Joe played 18 games for Lancing last season on loan.
Terrique Hall-Anderson
Former Charlton midfielder now in his third spell with the Wasps.
Matt Daniel
Matt joined the club in 2022 from Lancing and became a regular last season when he also chipped in with some important goals, finishing as top scorer in the league with 14 in 2023/24 before scoring ten times in the league last season. Has also played for Horsham YMCA.
Omar Folkes
Powerful striker who joined Wasps in 2022 and has become a regular member of the squad, contributing three league goals last season. Former clubs include Merstham and Three Bridges. His hold-up play is among the best in the league and he chips in with the odd goal as well.
Ollie Rawlins
Striker Ollie played for Cray Wanderers and Steyning last season on loan from Dorking Wanderers, before joining the Wasps this summer.
Mason Saunders
Another player from the club’s youth system, Mason will be looking to establish himself in the first team squad this season after making his debut in the final home game of the 2024/25 campaign.
Ever thought of volunteering to help your local football club?
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