Newhaven 2 Little Common 1, SCFL Premier Division match #6
Having notched an impressive 16 goals in their previous
three matches (including five against last night’s opponents Little Common just
seven days ago), the Dockers went into their sixth league match of the season oozing
confidence.
Unfortunately (at least from my perspective) an ill-timed
holiday, coupled with my Tuesday evening coaching commitments, meant that I was
absent for 11 of those goals.
Unfortunately from the team’s perspective, Lukas
Franzen-Jones – a man responsible for six of the aforementioned 16 goals following
back-to-back hat-tricks – was absent for last night’s game.
It’s not that hard to imagine which of our absences was felt more keenly by the team!
That said, for the opening quarter of the match, the Dockers
seemed to cope more than well enough without this season’s leading scorer.
Having shipped five goals against the Dockers in the first
half of last week’s Peter Bentley Cup match, I’m pretty sure Little Common’s
players would have been told to keep it somewhat tighter at the back this time
around.
Going behind inside the first minute was almost certainly not
part of their gameplan.
Having been utilised as a winger for most of the season so-far,
Newhaven’s all-time leading scorer, Lee Robinson, was back through the middle
last night. And he quickly showed he’s lost none of his prowess in front of
goal, expertly controlling Marcin Ruda’s cut-back before calmly finishing past Little
Common’s goalkeeper.
When centre-back Jack Meeres produced a strikers finish to double
the home team’s advantage just ten minutes later, you could have forgiven
Little Common’s hapless defenders for fearing a case of déjà vu.
Bearing in mind that Common’s goalkeeper had already pulled off two good saves by this point, it certainly seemed that another hefty
Dockers’ victory was very much on the cards.
It was one-way traffic for the opening 20-minutes; the
visitors struggling to lay a glove on their dominant hosts who were playing
some exhilarating stuff.
Newhaven thought they had put the match to bed after 25 minutes.
Alfie Rogers reached a lofted through ball marginally before the Little Common
goalkeeper was able to get there, before Robinson put the resulting loose ball
into the net. The linesman’s raised flag swiftly cut-short the celebrations,
though.
It was this phase of play that was to ultimately change the flow
of the game. The accidental collision between Rogers and the GK left the former
in a great deal of pain, and it was not long before he was taken off with a
dead leg.
With four defensive players on the bench, and one striker,
there was no obvious replacement for one of Newhaven’s key players (especially
given the absence of Franzen-Jones). The ensuing necessitated change of shape
following Don Street’s introduction, seemingly removed some of the flow from Newhaven’s
game.
To give full credit to Little Common, they’d battled hard to stay
in the game and soon sensed that, in-spite of the fact they were two goals down
and had been comprehensively outplayed, they weren’t out of it just yet.
They should have reduced the deficit when one of their
attackers broke clear only to carelessly lob his shot high over Jake Buss’
crossbar.
With half-time approaching, Newhaven then had to survive a
flurry of set-pieces, and when the referee blew for half-time it was the hosts
who were undoubtedly happier to hear the whistle. The visitors were in the ascendancy.
This was a chance to regroup and ensure they regained control in the second-half.
Only it never really quite happened like that. Not that the visitors
assumed control of the game either. No one did. Not really.
As regular supporters have come to expect, Newhaven enjoyed
plenty of possession. But shorn of two of their much-feared front three, there
was understandably a spark missing, and clear chances were at a premium.
At the other end, Little Common were huffing and puffing,
but a couple of hopeful long-range efforts aside (they both cleared the
skate-park fence quite comfortably) they carried little threat to Buss’ goal.
This changed just after the hour-mark. An uncharacteristic error
from Henry Watson (seriously, it’s arguably the first I remember him making in
almost four years of watching the Dockers), presented the ball to Lewis Hole,
and the Common attacker made no mistake, dispatching his effort past Buss to
reduce the deficit.
Suddenly, for the first time in a few weeks, Newhaven looked
a little rattled. A victory that had appeared a mere formality
after 20-minutes, was now in danger of slipping away from them. Silly errors
started to creep into their game. Possession needlessly ceded. The visitors
sensed blood.
Even the introduction of veteran striker Ryan Walton failed
to inspire the Dockers into finding the third goal that would have killed the
game off.
In fairness, while Newhaven didn’t particularly look like
scoring, neither did Little Common. Aside from a few well-delivered corners,
which were all superbly defended by the hosts, the visitors failed to force a
save from Buss.
With time ticking towards the 90-minute-mark, the Dockers
began to exhibit another side to their game. One they haven’t been called upon to
display this season up until now. Game management.
By maintaining possession and playing the ball into wide
areas (and occasionally even keeping the ball in the corner), the hosts were successfully
able to take the sting out of the game.
Their relief on the full-time whistle was palpable. They’d
been pushed close by a game Little Common team, but they’d stood firm and ultimately
held on comfortably enough for the three points.
There’s more than one way to win football matches; and last
night the Dockers proved they can scrap (figuratively speaking) when they have to.
A tricky-looking match away to another team who are expected
to be challenging towards the top of the table come the end of the season,
Eastbourne United, is up next, before another away trip next midweek. This time
to a much-improved AFC Varndeanians side.
Division rivals Eastbourne Town are the next visitors to Fort Road, in the FA
Vase on 24th September.
As ever, it would be great to see you there.
Come On You Dockers
My MOM (aka, the controversial part): Alex Plummer and
Marcin Ruda. Although there were no stand-out performances, the central
midfield duo were instrumental in retaining and maintaining possession in the
second-half, helping to keep the visitors at bay and more than doing their bit
to see the Dockers over the line.
Comments
Post a Comment