Gaskin on Sussex Senior Cup final clash with Horsham: Littlehampton Town 'always have a chance'

On Boxing Day 2016 dual-registered Gaskin scored three for Littlehampton in a 4-1 SCFL premier division win at Worthing United – then another three for Horsham in an 8-1 Isthmian south victory over Godalming, making national headlines after we covered his remarkable effort.

Now his feet are firmly in the Sportsfield camp – and tonight the Golds player-joint manager is out to put one over new Isthmian premier champions Horsham, managed by Dominic Di Paola, who both Gaskin and fellow boss Mitch Hand have played for in the past.

It’s also a chance for Gaskin to top the 2022 FA Vase final at Wembley – when the Golds lost to Newport Pagnell and the striker ended up in hospital after suffering a nasty head injury.

And he says it’s a great end to the season for Town’s fans, who have done much to help them through this season’s battle to stay in the Isthmian south east division.

Gaskin told us: “Wembley didn’t go to plan for me nor the team but this is another big occasion, playing at a Premier League football ground for our home town team, which means a lot to me and Mitch.

It’s reward for the players and mainly for the fans – we have had a group who have followed us home and away.

"When we were having some tough times this season they followed us as far as Margate and Ramsgate and that support is unbelievable. They dragged us through the tough times so hopefully this is a reward for them getting to go to a top ground, which will be a really good evening for everyone hopefully.

"We’ve had an interesting run in the competition – winning at Crawley Down Gatwick on penalties after a really tough game that could have gone either way.

"Then we played Eastbourne Borough on a neutral ground and on 3G which they were used to, and they were full-time footballers. No-one gave us a chance that day but Littlehampton always have a chance regardless of who they are playing.

"We proved that on the way to Wembley and we’ve proved it this season by staying up when we were in a tricky position.

"This season’s probably been our toughest but it’s also brought one of our biggest achievements – to stay up. The quality of the league is getting better and better, you notice that through the attendances and through players going on to play at a higher level and it’s relentless – there’s no bad team in this league.

"So it’s been a really good achievement to stay up – but we want to kick on. We want to take our home town club as far as we can and hopefully that means more cup finals in the future and more opportunities to progress through the leagues.

"We’ll work as hard as anyone and put all our efforts into trying to be better year on year and taking opportunities when they come.

"We’ve been known in the past few years for our cup runs – Wembley and now the Amex. Last year in the senior cup we knocked out Bognor and Worthing but lost to Hastings in the semi-final , so we’ve gone one better this year.

"Beating Eastbourne Borough shows how far we’ve come and how well the players have done, being in the bottom four but then being able to have the attitude to go and beat a team who were pushing for the league title or promotion.

"Credit to the players and the fans for what we’ve all done this season.”

Read our cup final previews in the Littlehampton Gazette – out on Thursday morning