The Final Day
On Saturday afternoon, we head to the Beacon – the home of Hassocks Football Club – to take on the Robins in our final SCFL Premier Division fixture of the season.
Having already guaranteed ourselves a playoff spot a couple of weeks ago, our hosts need just a point from this fixture to clinch 5th and with it the last playoff place ahead of rivals Haywards Heath Town.
In what has been a remarkably tight season towards the top end of the league, Steyning Town’s incredible run of 14 wins (and one draw) in their last 15 league fixtures saw them crowned deserved champions with one game to spare.
That has left the rest of us fighting for promotion via the recently introduced playoff system. This will see the team who finishes 2nd host the 5th placed side in one of the semi-finals, with 3rd hosting 4th in the other. These semi-finals will take place on Tuesday 30th April.
The winners of the two semi-finals will then play in a final at the ground of the side who finished highest in the league table. This will be played on Sunday 5th May.
As for who plays who, that’s the difficult part to predict. As it stands, we could still finish in three positions (2nd, 3rd or 4th) and could face one of four different opponents (Eastbourne Town, Crowborough Athletic, Hassocks or Haywards Heath Town) in our semi-final.
One of the simplest equations for us is that a win on Saturday afternoon will guarantee us 2nd place and a home semi-final, unless Eastbourne Town better our score by eleven goals or more away at Crawley Down Gatwick. That semi-final will then be against either Hassocks themselves or Haywards Heath Town, who would need to win at Peacehaven & Telscombe to take 5th place thanks to their superior goal difference.
As previously mentioned, a draw in our game will be enough for Hassocks to finish 5th but would give both Eastbourne Town and Crowborough Athletic the chance to overtake us into 2nd and 3rd place.
A defeat for us on Saturday would not have many different consequences than a draw, as it would still give the two teams below us a chance to finish higher. It would, however, give Hassocks a chance to finish above Crowborough Athletic in 4th, should the Crows lose at home to Shoreham on the final day.
Crowborough are the only one of the five teams who could still finish in any of the four playoff places.
So, there you go. Clear as mud. See you all at Hassocks.
Current league table:
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steyning Town (C) | 37 | 26 | 7 | 4 | 109 | 35 | +74 | 85 |
| 2 | Newhaven | 37 | 23 | 10 | 4 | 98 | 50 | +48 | 79 |
| 3 | Eastbourne Town | 37 | 25 | 4 | 8 | 68 | 30 | +38 | 79 |
| 4 | Crowborough Athletic | 37 | 24 | 6 | 7 | 76 | 36 | +40 | 78 |
| 5 | Hassocks | 37 | 23 | 6 | 8 | 82 | 41 | +41 | 75 |
| 6 | Haywards Heath Town | 37 | 22 | 6 | 9 | 87 | 44 | +43 | 72 |
Final day fixtures (all 3pm):
Hassocks vs Newhaven
Crawley Down Gatwick vs Eastbourne Town
Crowborough Athletic vs Shoreham
Peacehaven & Telscombe vs Haywards Heath Town
The post The Final Day first appeared on Newhaven Football Club.