Skip to main content

Posts

Battling Dockers foiled at semi-final stage

Newhaven 0 Steyning 2, Peter Bentley Cup Semi-final, Tuesday March 31 st 2026 Tuesday night brought with it a trip to Shoreham for our re-arranged Peter Bentley Cup semi-final match against Steyning. A final against Little Common the spoils for the victors. With the Barrowmen currently riding high at the top of the SCFL Premier Division and having already beaten us twice already this season (and one of those a rather hefty tonking that we don’t like to talk about), there could be little doubt that a win here would be one of our biggest results for quite a while. However, entering the match on the back of a previously elusive two-game winning run, we were probably in a better position to be playing this match now than we would have been when it was originally postponed back in February. We certainly started confidently enough, with Ryan Blunt registering the first shot of the match just a couple of minutes in, although it was always rising. As expected, Steyning soon settled and ...
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

Consecutive victories at last for dominant Dockers

Newhaven 3 Forest Row 0, SCFL Premier Division match #33, Saturday 28 th March 2026 After a ten-day break, Newhaven began a run of four games in nine days with a home league fixture against Forest Row on Saturday. It was a match that gave the Dockers a chance to finally put to bed the win-a-game/lose-a-game sequence that has plagued them for much of 2026. Having beaten Lingfield last time out, Newhaven would have been confident of gaining three-points against a Row side who we had already beaten twice this season, and who have tasted victory just once in any competition since the turn of the year. However, both teams looked equally nervous in an error-strewn opening ten-minutes in which the ball was repeatedly given away needlessly. Newhaven created the first half-chance of the match, when Ryan Blunt’s inviting low free-kick found Lee Robinson in space, but the striker couldn’t get enough purchase on the ball to guide it goalwards. Seconds later, Row had what would probably ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dockers bounce back to winning ways (again!)

Lingfield 2 Newhaven 5, SCFL Premier Division match #32, Wednesday 18 th March 2026 A midweek trip to Lingfield (well, Whyteleafe) gave Newhaven the opportunity to bounce quickly back from Saturday’s defeat at Pagham. As highlighted in that report, it has been a while since we last won two league games on the trot. The flip-side to that, though, is that it has also been quite a while since we last lost two consecutively. In fact, it hasn’t happened since the end of October when we lost back-to-back games against Steyning and Eastbourne United. While Lingfield may currently be embroiled in a relegation scrap, a recent upturn in form has given them a little breathing space in the dogfight at the foot of the table and led to them being awarded the SNLF Podcast’s team of the month for February. This had all the ingredients of being a tricky Wednesday night encounter. Yet it didn’t turn out that way. Not really. The Dockers made the perfect start to the game, opening the scoring ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consistency still proving elusive

Pagham 2 Newhaven 1, SCFL Premier Division match #31, Saturday 14 th March 2026 DWLWLWLW.  No, its not the name of a small Welsh village (at least, I don’t think it is. It could be. I haven’t actually checked). It’s Newhaven’s league form since the start of 2026. A run of inconsistency that has all but ended our play-off hopes after a stronger than expected first half of the season. We made the long trip to Pagham on Saturday afternoon, hoping we could make it back-to-back league victories for the first time in 2026. Unfortunately, our wait for consecutive victories will have to continue for a while longer, as this match perfectly encapsulated in microcosm the inconsistency that has hampered us over the last few months. After a sluggish opening five minutes, in which Pagham went close to scoring only for Rudi Jones to clear off the line, the Dockers took the lead from practically their first attack when we were awarded a penalty for handball after good work from Teddy Wood d...
Post a Comment
Read more

A comfortable win for inconsistent Dockers

  Newhaven 3 Lancing 0, SCFL Premier Division match #30, Saturday 28th February 2026 It says much about the Docker’s current form that since the turn of the year (cup-games aside) we haven’t yet managed to win back-to-back games. The flip-side of that, though, is that we haven’t lost two on the spin either. So having lost last weekend, we were due a win this weekend, right? (Or a draw at the very least). With bottom-placed Lancing the visitors to Fort Road, confidence was high that we’d once again be able to bounce back from defeat last weekend. However, many of the Fort Road faithful who have followed Newhaven for a few seasons or more will have been only too aware that we’re not adverse to slipping on the odd banana skin when it comes to facing struggling teams. Nothing would be taken for granted. Having failed to score in their past four matches, Lancing have signed a few new players in recent weeks to try and assist in their struggles in front of goal. After 20 minu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dockers edged out in game of few chances

Newhaven 1 Eastbourne United 2, SCFL Premier Division match #29, Saturday 21 st February 2026 Consistency has been a bit of an issue for the Dockers this season. Throughout the campaign, good performances have been interspersed with some not so good ones; brilliant performances with atrocious ones. It’s to be expected given the youthful nature of the current Newhaven squad, although it doesn’t make it any less frustrating… for players, managers and fans alike. Having been really good at Bexhill a week ago – the final scoreline certainly didn’t reflect our dominance (particularly in the first-half) – we welcomed a bang in-form Eastbourne United to Fort Road on Saturday.  United are a team we’ve struggled for results against in recent seasons, and with them on a run of 10 points from their last four games (with 19 goals scored) we knew we’d need to have one of our very good weeks to get something from this game. Perhaps had Eastbourne United’s debutant keeper not brilliantly...
Post a Comment
Read more

A lovely three points on Valentine’s Day

Bexhill United 1 Newhaven 2, SCFL Premier Division match #28, Saturday 14 th February 2026 The less said about Newhaven’s last match the better… So with that swiftly covered, we move on to yesterday’s match away to Bexhill where we were looking for a reaction (not the first time I've written those words this season). With Bexhill firmly ensconced in mid-table, and on a mixed run of form not all that dissimilar to our own, it was hard to predict the outcome of this game. Especially given our inconsistent record at the Polegrove. A change of shape along with a couple of new arrivals further accentuated the feeling that this was a game in which anything could happen. And after just 30-seconds something did happen. Bexhill’s number five, who it’s fair to say will enjoy more productive halves during his career, made a complete hash of a routine pass/clearance, allowing Lee Robinson to race in behind and fire the Dockers in front. The fast-start galvanised Newhaven and really ...
Post a Comment
Read more