[ad_1]
The original Hastings club was founded in 1893 as Rock-a-Nore and joined the East Sussex Football League in 1904. They went on to become founder members of the Sussex County Football League in 1920, changing their name to Hastings & St Leonards in 1921, before leaving to join the Southern Amateur Football League in 1927. They had a brief stay in the Corinthian League before becoming founder members of Division Two of the Sussex County League in 1952. They changed their name to Hastings Town in 1976 and took Hastings United’s place in the Southern Football League in 1985. They became Hastings United in 2002 and would go on to join the Isthmian League in 2004, where they have remained since.
Our first meeting with Hastings was just after World War two in the Corinthian League when they were known as Hastings and St Leonards. We met in the 1946-47 season and lost the initial encounter at Colston Avenue 1-4 before getting a 1-1 draw in the return fixture. For the following season we played each other twice in the space of four days (as was often the case in those days) losing the away fixture 0-2 before getting our revenge at home by winning 5-0.
Our paths diverged after this as Hastings went off to the Sussex County League and the Southern League before their move into the Isthmian League in 2004.
We did not meet again until the 2007-08 season after Hastings’ promotion from Division One South but we were disappointed to be beaten both home and away in their first season at Step 3. Our first win in the modern era against Hastings was registered the following season with a 1-0 win at the Pilot Field which was the first of an incredible run of seven wins in eight consecutive seasons at Hastings, the only blip being a 3-1 reverse in 2009-10. Our successful run came to crashing halt on a Tuesday night early in the 2016-17 season when Hastings hammered us 5-0! We lost the following seasons encounter away, in our Division One South Championship season, by 2-0.
One of the most memorable games between the two sides in this period has to be the extraordinary 4-4 draw at Colston Avenue in 2016-17. Tommy Bradford gave us the lead after slotting home from the spot in the fifth minute. There then followed an extraordinary spell where Hastings scored three times in seven minutes to go in at half time reasonably secure at 1-3 to the visitors. However there then followed another, equally extraordinary passage of play in the second half as, in the space of eight minutes, Mickel Miller pulled one back and then Bradford netted twice more (both from the spot to register a hat trick of penalties!) to put us 4-3 ahead. However, the game was not over yet as Hastings scored again five minutes after going behind to bring the scores level again. With nearly half an hour left to play the game then fizzled out as nobody wanted to make a mistake and both sides settled for a point each.
Our most recent encounter came before last season began as we travelled to Hastings for a pre-season Friendly, comfortably running out 3-0 winners.
Played for both teams: Forward Frankie Sawyer joined the Robins from Hastings for the 2009-10 season. Midfield enforcer Michael Azaiya made the same trip up from the Kent coast to Carshalton part way into 2017-18 and was so instrumental in our success that season. Forwards Youssouf Bamba and Raheem Sterling-Parker (another to have made such a big contribution in 2017-18) have also turned out for Hastings United.
Tickets are available on the gate or online via skiddle.com
-
Adults – £12
-
Concessions – £8
Gates open: 12:30pm
[ad_2]
