Albion beaten by second-half goals in Sussex Senior Cup

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Shannon Ruth's young side beaten 2-0 by Haywards Heath Town.

Nick Szczepanik

2026-09-30T21:30+01:00

There was disappointment for a young Albion team after an early exit in the Sussex Senior Cup. 📷Simon Roe.

Albion fell at the first hurdle in the Sussex Transport Senior Cup on Wednesday night, losing their second round tie 2-0 away to in-form Haywards Heath Town.

The visit of Albion, last season’s runners-up, attracted a new ground record crowd of 1,267 to the HS Energy Group Stadium and the home fans enjoyed a highly competitive encounter and a deserved victory.

Shannon Ruth’s team struggled to make chances and fell to a scruffy goals by home captain Jack Barnes after 54 minutes and a sublime free kick by Lucas Franzen-Jones six minutes from time.

Albion’s mixture of under-21s and under-18s included two sets of brothers in a competitive game for the first time: Lorenz and Tate Ferdinand and twins Anton and Bailey Palmer.

But a relatively inexperienced side found themselves up against a confident outfit who are unbeaten in their eight league matches in the Southern Combination Premier Division – level nine of the football pyramid – and who had beaten Crawley Down Gatwick 6-1 away from home in the first round.

Albion began kicking down a considerable slope on a pitch that was a far cry from the manicured surfaces they are used to in Premier League 2 – bumpy and occasionally threadbare.

Aidan West tries to find a way through the Haywards Heath defence. 📷Simon Roe

They pressed high and forced two quick corners, but the home side cleared both and almost took a fortunate lead when Charlie Meehan’s cross from the right drifted uncomfortably close to Lorenz Ferdinand’s goal.

Kev Green, the Haywards Heath manager, had promised that his team would compete and give as good a performance as possible rather than simply enjoy the occasion, and they lived up to that more and more as the first half went on.

They looked to get forward rapidly, playing a series of quick-fire one-twos and Albion skipper Ben Barclay had to produce a saving tackle when Mark Goldson’s clever dummy left Tate Ferdinand trailing in his wake. Meehan’s pace was causing problems and Lorenz Ferguson had to drop quickly onto Barnes’ shot after Meehan had picked him out.

Albion’s best early effort was a low angled drive just past the post from Valentin Joseph, and a similar shot late in the first half from right back Fraser Widdop had home goalkeeper Nathan Stroomberg-Clarke scrambling across goal but it too went narrowly wide.

The home side could have been reduced to ten men early in the second half but a foul by Ryan Warwick that forced Anton Palmer off injured was punished only by a yellow card. And within seconds Albion paid the price for not clearing a free kick from the left when Barnes poked home a loose ball.

The dangerous Meehan then broke free looking for a quick second but Tate Ferdinand got a foot in the way of the winger’s shot.

Albion were in serious need of some inspiration and Henry Kasvosve tried to provide it with a buccaneering run down the right only to be halted by a shuddering but fair challenge on the edge of the penalty area.

Valentin Joseph holds off his marker. 📷Simon Roe

And when Joseph’s pass left Jacob Parsons with only the goalkeeper to beat ten minutes from time, Stroomberg-Clarke stuck out a leg to deny the Albion midfielder.

That proved to be Albion's last chance to rescue the game. Franzen-Jones settled their fate four minutes later, curling a 22-yard free kick around the defensive wall and past Ferdinand’s left hand.

Albion: L. Ferdinand; Widdop, Barclay, T. Ferdinand, Ezenwata (sub: Hartshorn 85); A. Palmer (Brennan 52), Shaw; West (Kasvosve 45), Parsons, B. Palmer (Evans 85); Joseph.