Tom Stott came to Hove in April 1911 as a trialist from the Thornaby St Patrick club near Middlesbrough and scored three goals on his debut for the reserves, a 6-2 win over Swindon Town’s second string. Four days later the young centre forward found the net in a 3-0 Southern League eclipse of West Ham United at the Goldstone.
During the 1911-12 season he scored 26 South Eastern League goals (including three hat-tricks) for the ‘Lambs’, but was kept out of the senior side by Bill Bullet’ Jones and Jimmy Smith, and departed for Southend United in May 1912.