Season 2022-23
86TH SEASON
SEASON REPORT
The 2022-23 season was a difficult one in a number of aspects.
The East Sussex Football League was reduced from six to five divisions for the 2022-23 season which meant a restructuring of the divisions and the 1st team, having finished fourth in Division Three in 2021-22, were moved up to Division Two and as the lowest placed team to be promoted the season not surprisingly proved to be a struggle.
The Veterans also had a hard season and the amount of football played was badly affected by teams withdrawing from the Hastings F A Veterans League.
1ST TEAM
After being unbeaten and producing some encouraging performances in friendly games, the 2022-23 season proved to be a disappointing one for the 1st team who finished ninth out of ten teams in Division Two.
There were some good results but these were infrequent and were among some disheartening displays with the season ending poorly with heavy defeats suffered in the final three games. On the positive side, an excellent point was gained in a 1-1 draw with Ninfield, the eventual division champions and three victories were achieved over Sporting Club Pass and Move II including an 8-2 win in the Hastings F A Junior Cup.
The team achieved the highest average mark of 89.381 in Division Two from referees for Respect and Sportsmanship earning the club a £50 award from the East Sussex Football League.
Tom Cumber finished the season as leading goal scorer with 14 goals.
| 1ST TEAM SEASON 2022-23 Match v Ninfield Saturday, 24th September 2022 Back row (left to right):- Tom Leggett, Stuart Pearson (captain), Jamie O’Mahoney, Billy Cornford, Mike Amar, Dave Pugh, Jon Fitton, Harry Pearson, Joe Maylam. Front row (left to right):- David Duley, Adam Knight, Blue Willoughby, Tom Cumber, Rhys Piggott, Sam Garner, Martin Tytherleigh (manager). |
1ST TEAM PLAYING RECORD
| EAST SUSSEX FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO |
| Competition | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | 18 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 21 | 62 | 13 |
| Cup | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 19 | N/A |
| Friendly | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 13 | N/A |
| All Games | 29 | 8 | 7 | 14 | 56 | 94 | 13 |
| DATE | OPPONENTS | VENUE | COMPETITION | RESULT | GOAL SCORERS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/8/2022 | Icklesham Casuals Veterans | Home | Friendly | 3 – 3 | Leon Pettit, Tom Cumber, Logan Woodhurst |
| 13/8/2022 | Westfield III | Away | Friendly | 2 – 2 | Rhys Piggott, Tom Cumber (pen) |
| 17/8/2022 | South Coast Athletico II | Home | Friendly | 2 – 0 | Phil Badrock 2 |
| 27/8/2022 | St Leonards Social | Home | Friendly | 5 – 3 | Tom Cumber 2, Billy Cornford 2, David Duley |
| 31/8/2022 | Sedlescombe Rangers Development | Away | Friendly | 4 – 4 | Solly Cooke, Josh Jocham, Sean Baker, David Duley |
| 3/9/2022 | Northiam 75 | Away | League | 0 – 4 | |
| 7/9/2022 | Icklesham Casuals Veterans | Home | Friendly | 5 – 1 | Tom Cumber 2, Sam Garner, Jamie O’Mahoney, Jack Pullin |
| 17/9/2022 | Sporting Club Pass and Move II | Away | League | 4 – 1 | Tom Cumber 3, Joe Maylam |
| 24/9/2022 | Ninfield | Home | League | 1 – 1 | Dave Pugh (pen) |
| 1/10/2022 | Victoria Baptists | Home | League | 0 – 3 | |
| 8/10/2022 | Hollington United II | Home | League | 1 – 4 | Phil Badrock |
| 15/10/2022 | Sporting Club Pass and Move II | Home | Hastings F A Junior Cup 1st Round | 8 – 2 | George Barrow 3, Tom Cumber, Sean Baker, Mike Amar, Leon Pettit, Lee Pierce |
| 22/10/2022 | Bexhill Rovers | Away | League | 1 – 7 | George Barrow |
| 29/10/2022 | Ninfield | Home | East Sussex League Divisions 1 and 2 Cup 1st Round | 0 – 2 | |
| 5/11/2022 | Beaumont Park | Home | Sussex Junior Cup 1st Round | 5 – 2 | Phil Badrock 3, Tom Cumber 2 |
| 12/11/2022 | Northiam 75 | Home | League | 2 – 2 | Phil Badrock, David Duley |
| 19/11/2022 | Peche Hill Select | Away | League | 1 – 4 | Sam Garner |
| 26/11/2022 | Sedlescombe Rangers II | Away | League | 0 – 4 | |
| 3/12/2022 | Eastbourne Athletic | Home | Sussex Junior Cup 2nd Round | 0 – 7 | |
| 10/12/2022 | Hooe | Home | League | 0 – 0 | |
| 28/1/2023 | Hooe | Away | League | 2 – 1 | Tom Cumber, Mike Amar |
| 4/2/2023 | Peche Hill Select | Home | League | 1 – 4 | Lee Pierce |
| 11/2/2023 | Wadhurst United | Home | Hastings F A Junior Cup 2nd Round | 1 – 6 | Rhys Piggott |
| 18/2/2023 | Sedlescombe Rangers II | Home | League | 0 – 0 | |
| 25/2/2023 | Victoria Baptists | Away | League | 1 – 3 | Phil Badrock |
| 4/3/2023 | Sporting Club Pass and Move II | Home | League | 4 – 2 | Phil Badrock 3, Ruben Shand |
| 25/3/2023 | Hollington United II | Away | League | 1 – 10 | David Duley |
| 22/4/2023 | Ninfield | Away | League | 0 – 5 | |
| 13/5/2023 | Bexhill Rovers | Home | League | 2 – 7 | Tom Cumber, Jon Fitton |
VETERANS
The 2022-23 season was a difficult one for the Hastings F A Veterans League. At the start of the season, thirteen teams entered for the competition and the decision was taken to organise the League into two groups with the top two sides in each group qualifying for play-offs.
One team withdrew before the commencement of the League and two further clubs withdrew after the season had started which resulted in two unevenly balanced groups. This together with the number of matches lost to the weather, being postponed for other reasons along with a number of unfulfilled fixtures meant the season was far from ideal.
The Veterans, being drawn in the group affected by the withdrawals, played only three competitive matches all season. The side started the League campaign in disastrous fashion, losing by a record margin for the veterans team of 15-2 against reigning League champions Sidley United Veterans. This was followed by a 4-4 draw with Bexhill Town Veterans where the side recovered from being 4-1 down with fifteen minutes to go to gain a point.
The Veterans needed to win the final group match against Hooe Veterans to qualify for the semi-final play-offs but suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat.
As a result of the club withdrawals a supplementary competition was organised at the end of the season for those clubs not involved in the play-offs but this did not benefit the Veterans! The team was paired with Bexhill Amateur Athletic Club Veterans in the first round but even in April the weather intervened and the match was postponed. With insufficient time available to reschedule the game, the Veterans generously forfeited the tie to allow the competition to be completed.
VETERANS PLAYING RECORD
| HASTINGS AND DISTRICT FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION VETERANS LEAGUE |
| Competition | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 22 | 1 |
| Friendly | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | N/A |
| All Games | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 30 | 1 |
| DATE | OPPONENTS | VENUE | COMPETITION | RESULT | GOAL SCORERS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/8/2022 | Icklesham Casuals | Away | Friendly | 3 – 3 | Dave Pugh, Phil Badrock, Gavin Moor |
| 7/9/2022 | Icklesham Casuals | Away | Friendly | 1 – 5 | David Duley |
| 23/10/2022 | Sidley United Veterans | Away | League | 2 – 15 | Val Newman, Dave Pugh (pen) |
| 11/12/2022 | Bexhill Town Veterans | Away | League | 4 – 4 | Phil Badrock, George Richardson, Val Newman, Sean Baker (pen) |
| 26/2/2023 | Hooe Veterans | Away | League | 2 – 3 | Phil Badrock, Gavin Moor |
GENERAL MATTERS
Bob Baker stood down as chairman of the club during the season having held the role for 25 years over two periods. Bob was chairman for ten years from 1991-92 to 2000-01 and for a further fifteen years from 2008-09 to 2022-23. The thanks of the club go to Bob for his outstanding contribution to the club over all those years.
Wayne Dedman, who previously played seven games in goal for the second team in the 2006-07 season joined to assist Martin Tytherleigh in running the side but more off-field support was required to help the club to progress moving forward.
The Icklesham Casuals Golf Tournament, the fifteenth competition to be held, took place on Friday, 8th July 2022 at Poult Wood Golf Club in Tonbridge, a new venue for the event, and saw Colin Cooke lift the trophy for the first time.
A Charity Golf Day was held on Thursday, 25th May 2023 at Pyecombe Golf Club with the money raised being divided between Parkinson’s UK and Sussex Mind, a mental health charity.
Charity Golf Day ‘Bus Stop’
