990 and out - Hassocks and Hillians legend Pat Harding calls time on glittering career

Harding made the decision that 2023-24 would be his final campaign before pre-season began.

Despite plundering 15 goals and being a key player as Hassocks reached the Southern Combination Premier Division playoff semi final, he has stuck to his guns.

The Robins’ fantastic 5-1 win over Newhaven – in which he scored the second – was his last ever first team appearance at the Beacon.

It was the perfect way for Harding to bow out in front of the supporters of the club where he started out back in 2002.

No formal announcement was made prior to the Newhaven match because Harding did not want to overshadow the importance of the game in terms of Hassocks needing a point to finish in the top five.

That sums up the selfless team player he was throughout a career which took him from Hassocks to Eastbourne Borough, Horsham, Whitehawk, Burgess Hill Town and back for a final hoorah at the Beacon.

There was, however, a tribute paid to Harding in the Robins matchday programme for the Newhaven fixture.

Super Pat was subsequently given a standing ovation by a crowd of over 600 when substituted midway through the second half, followed by a presentation on the pitch afterwards.

Harding came through the youth system at the Beacon as part of the U18s side who won the Sussex County U18 Cup in 2001-02 – the only Hassocks youth team to ever be crowned County Champions.

He also helped the Young Robins to the Southern Combination League Under 18 North Division title and the overall championship in a stunning 2001-02 campaign for Dave Charker’s outfit.

By the time those three pieces of silverware were heading for the Hassocks cabinet, Harding was already well established in the Robins first team.

Over the next five seasons, Super Pat became Hassocks’ talisman and one of the most feared strikers on the Southern Combination League circuit.

His feats included scoring five goals on his debut for the Sussex Representative side and breaking Robbie Kitchen’s senior goals record of 123 for the club.

Harding netted 43 times in 57 appearances in the 2005-06 season, setting a club record for most goals in a single campaign that seems unlikely to ever be beaten.

That form proved enough to convince Eastbourne Borough to swoop for Super Pat in the summer of 2006. During his time at Priory Lane, Harding helped the Sports reach the National League Premier for the first time in their history.

After leaving Borough, Harding went on to play for Horsham and Whitehawk before landing at Burgess Hill Town.

Super Pat played over 450 times for the Hillians in a decade at Leylands Park, scoring 131 goals to become one of the most revered players in Burgess Hill history.

That led to an emotional farewell after Harding announced he would be leaving Hill at the end of the 2021-22 campaign.

Harding had always retained strong links with Hassocks, dual-signing for the Robins in every season since he first left for Borough.

When the Southern Combination League introduced the Supplementary Shield competition as lockdown restrictions were lifted in April 2021, Harding was able to play all six matches for Hassocks. Super Pat plundered six goals from those. Of course he did.

Those links with the Robins meant from the moment Harding revealed his time with Burgess Hill was over, most assumed a return to the Beacon was inevitable.

And so it proved. Harding was announced as the first signing made by James Westlake following his appointment as head coach of the Robins in May 2022. Sixteen years after Pat departed Hassocks, he was now headed home on a permanent basis.

Harding had been in good scoring form through his first pre-season back as a Robin, only for three broken ribs in a friendly against Whitehawk to rule him out for the start of the 2022-23 campaign.

Once recovered, Super Pat made 22 starts and 15 substitute appearances. He contributed four goals, two which of came in the final three games – suggesting the season was coming to an end at just the wrong time.

That form carried over into 2023-24 – 31 starts and 15 substitute appearances have returned those aforementioned 15 goals, taking Harding past James Laing in the all-time scorers’ list and breaking the 150 goals mark. Super Pat’s current total of 156 from 284 Hassocks games is second to only Phil Gault.

After the 4-3 defeat at Saltdean United in the penultimate game of the campaign, Harding said: “I can now either go out in a blaze of glory with a play-off place or crushing disappointment…. which is what playing for Hassocks is all about.”

Ultimately, it was both. Kind of. Beating Newhaven 5-1 was a blaze of glory before Hassocks went down to a heartbreaking 2-0 defeat away at Eastbourne Town in the play-off semi-finals in what proved to be Super Pat’s last ever game.

The Robins though had defied the odds to even finish in the top five. Harding was a huge part of that and he retires as one of the most popular players ever to pull on a Hassocks shirt.

From where he started as a wiry 16-year-old in the youth team, through helping Eastbourne Borough and Burgess Hill play at the highest levels they have ever reached, to his Indian summer rounding off his career with the Robins.

Harding has done it all, becoming a fan favourite everywhere he has been. And whilst this might be the end of his playing career, Super Pat teased he will not be walking away from football entirely, promising an"announcement pending" over what comes next.