Our final home pre-season friendly sees us entertain Isthmian Premier League side Hastings United at Culver Road. We last played ‘the U’s’ in 2022 during our first season at step 4. We lost 1-0 at the Pilot Field in front of a crowd of 2,017, Alieu Secka keeping the home side – which featured Louis Rogers and Knory Scott – at bay for much of match.

The return at Culver Road saw the Lancers lose 2-0 with goals from Ben Pope and James Hull doing the damage before a crowd of 336, our second highest of that campaign. As you can see from the above there is a recent history of players playing for both clubs and Dan Hull is expected to feature on Saturday for the U’s and we look forward to welcoming him back to Culver Road.

Lancers Manager Jamie Hollis will be looking to continue the progress of the squad as he shapes the team in preparation for the first competitive match of the season away to Deal on August 10th and will hope that the majority of his first eleven will be available for this tough tie against the 21/22 South East Division champions. Last Saturday saw us lose the John Brown Trophy to Shoreham on penalties – practice which may come in useful once the FA Cup and FA Trophy get going – with Ahmed Belgarne scoring the Lancing goal. Next Saturday sees us travel to Kent to play Dover Athletic at the Crabble in what is being called the Barry Sutton derby (by him anyway).

The U’s won their last friendly 4-0 at Isthmian League new boys Eastbourne Town and then host Brighton U-21s on Wednesday and Southampton U21s a week tomorrow.

Gates open at 1.30pm with kick off at 3pm and entry is £5 for adults, £3 for Concessions and £1 for U16s. The Bar and servery are open throughout but there will not be a programme produced.