Burgess Hill Town boss frustrated at call-offs – but Hill and Hassocks get back into action

A string of the high-flying Isthmian south east division side’s games have been postponed because of rain or frost over the Christmas and New Year period.

The Hillians face playing two games every week until at least the end of February in a testing schedule.

They did at least get a game in on Tuesday night – and won it, their 2-1 victory at Erith Town moving them up to fourth spot. Marcus Allen and Martyn Box were the scorers.

Last Saturday Hill’s home clash with AFC Croydon failed to beat frosty conditions.

Speaking before the Erith game got the go-ahead, Mansell said: “We’re finding it very frustrating because it does affect your rhythm and your momentum. Do we see it being an issue? You know, a fixture pile-up could be.

"We’re confident we have a squad big enough to cope with it but in an ideal world we’d want the games a little more spread out. We’ve got a very big squad so we have got the opportunity to manage fatigue and we’ll play the squad as we need it.

"What we’ll do is look at every game in isolation in terms of what the pitch looks like, if we’re home or away and what the opposition looks like. And we’ll pick the best personnel that are the fittest and most ready to go.”

The Hillians continue their promotion bid with a visit to 20th-placed Phoenix Sports on Saturday.

Mansell said: “Traditionally Pheonix hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for us so we expect it to be a difficult game. We expect them to be fighting for their lives so we’ll no doubt be aggressive and we know it will be a physical contest.

"It’ll probably be a scrappy affair which might not suit us but we’re going to go there and approach it like we do every game looking to win and come back with three points.”

Hill will then visit promotion rivals Sheppey next Tuesday.

Hassocks finally got their Southern Combination League title bid back on track after a weather-disrupted break when they won 3-1 at Wick on Tuesday night.

Goals by Alex Fair, Ruari Farrell and a long-range special from Dan Turner gave the Robins the win in their first game of 2025 and moved them 11 points clear of second-placed Roffey.

Haywards Heath have yet to play their first game of the year. Their latest attempt, for their RUR Cup semi-final with Crowborough, was beaten by frosty conditions on Tursday night.

Meanwhile Heath have made two new signings – both on dual terms from Eastbourne Borough – to boost their squad for the second half of the season.

Defender Delwin Duah is one recruit. He won promotion from the SCFL premier via the play-offs with Eastbourne Town last season and has this season been playing for Littlehampton Town. Heath have also snapped up midfielder Charlie Gibson from Borough

But Heath have said an emotional farewell to club legend Tom Gilbert, who has retired. The club said: “A fan favourite and one of the nicest people in the game, Tom leaves with the best wishes from everyone at the club.”