Hot on the heels of Sunday’s first ever win over Pink Flamingos, Hassocks Fatboys look to build on an already historic pre-season campaign against Lindfield Reserves.

The Fatboys had never before won their opening two friendlies, but victories over Burgess Hill Rhinos and Pink Flamingos have put that unwanted statistic to bed. Now they go looking for three in a row against the Mid Sussex League’s Swans.

This will be the third consecutive year that these two sides have met. Last season, two goals from Peter Martin and a Simon O’Brien strike that wasn’t ruled out for offside gave the Fatboys a 3-2 win. In 2016-17, Lindfield came out on top 4-2 despite Andy Brown scoring a stunning 30 yarder and a first goal for the Fatboys from Calum Cannon.

There is quite a crossover between the two squads. Jon Ballantyne for example is playing for Lindfield instead of the Fatboys. Ballantyne hasn’t turned out for the Swans once so far in their friendly schedule and, as a result, he has admitted to having concerns about whether he will get into their line up come the start of the season. As a gesture of goodwill, the Fatboys have decided to put Dave Keane up against him which should help Ballantyne look good.

Nick Davie is another man to represent both sides, having played at centre back for Lindfield at the weekend. He was part of a back four then that conceded five times and on Sunday had one of his more interesting games at left back for the Fatboys in which Andy Brown had to actually remind him which team he was playing for. At the time of writing, neither side had selected Davie for this one.

Having seen a back four consisting of Rhyan Thwaites, John Humphrey, Chris Britton and Rob Lloyd keep the dangerous Flamingos attack at bay at the weekend, the Fatboys will now be without three quarters of that impressive defensive line. In come Gary Whittington, Jason Gander and Daniel Pidgeon who, according to Whittington, collectively weigh the same amount as Jack Lewis’ new Mini.

Speaking of Lewis, he could have a new midfield partner with the news that Jake Philpott has made the squad. Of course, there are still 24 hours to go until kick off which could mean that Philpott discovers he is moving house and can’t make it. There is even the possibility that the 2014-15 Goal of the Season winner might up his excuse game in order to compete with Kieran Poulton and his “Sorry I can’t make it, I’ve been stabbed” reason.

The Fatboys could hand a debut to former Shoreham United striker Matty Pryor, whom Gander is still having nightmares about having been given the run around by him the 2013-14 season. It was Gander’s constant fouling on Pryor that caused the infamous, “Jason, I’m going to have to book you as that is your 12th foul of the morning”, “To be fair ref, it’s only my eighth,” conversation.

Reserve team players Reece Wickwar, O’Brien and Nick Jones have both been called up the squad for differing reasons. Wickwar is in because the Fatboys are short of full backs (hopefully he doesn’t read this beforehand) while O’Brien has asked for some game time to improve his match fitness having played just once so far. He could also do with improving the greys in his hair.

Jones’ promotion is the continuation of the selection policy that saw 14-year-old Charlie Wyre play the last 20 minutes in the victory over the Flamingos, with the Fatboys management believing it would be equally beneficial for their 22-year-old back up goalkeeper to pick up some vital experience despite his tender age.

Kick off is at 6.45pm at Nine Acres Field, Ardingly.

Squad: Scott McCarthy, Nick Jones, Rob Lloyd, Daniel Pidgeon, Jason Gander, Gary Whittington, Jake Philpott, Jack Lewis, Andy Brown, Ryan Collins, Reece Wickwar, Joe Brockes, Dave Keane, Jordan Walsh, Ryan John, Matty Pryor, Simon O’Brien.