Newhaven Ladies off and running

Newhaven Ladies 4 Cray Wanderers Ladies 0, London & South East Women’s Football League Division 1 South, Match #3

Following a tough start to the season, with away trips to two of the division’s best teams in Hastings and Ashford yielding zero points and a rather unhealthy-looking goal difference, the female Dockers were hoping for a change of fortune with their first competitive game on the new Fort Road surface.

Their opponents, Cray Valley, were also winless. Although a point against Steyning, and a close defeat against the aforementioned Ashford, pointed to a potentially tricky afternoon for the Dockers.

As someone who has only seen the Ladies team play once before – and that a hastily arranged pre-season fixture against Hassocks – I arrived at Fort Road not knowing quite what to expect.

What I witnessed was a hugely impressive 90-minutes from a fired-up home team, desperate to get their first league points of the season.

From the off, Newhaven were on the front-foot, not giving their visitors any time on the ball and constantly harassing their opponents into needlessly giving away possession.

Early close-range chances were spurned by Jamie Quinn and Lauren Smith as the Dockers looked to make their superiority count. Cray were finding it hard to get out of their half, with the Newhaven defence easily dealing with the visitor's occasional foray forward, usually by way of a long ball.

The only thing missing from an utterly dominant first half-an-hour for the hosts was a goal. Some poor decision making at crucial times, combined with some rushed finishing, both helping to keep Cray in the game.

But there was no panic in the Newhaven ranks. They clearly sensed it was only a matter of time until they made the all-important break through. And so it proved. Just over ten minutes before the interval, Lucy Collinson raced into the area, breezed past a couple of challenges, before squeezing the ball past the goalkeeper from the tightest of angles.

It was little more than the hosts deserved.

Soon after, Chloe Evans thought she had doubled the home side's lead, only for her bundled goal to be chalked off; presumably as the goalkeeper was deemed to have been in control of the ball. It looked 50-50 from my vantage point, but there were no great complaints on the pitch.  

Cray would probably have been delighted to have made it to half-time just the one goal behind. They could - perhaps should - have already been out of the game.

But any hopes of a second-half fightback were extinguished within ten minutes of the restart.

A confident run down the left wing by Smith – who became more influential the longer the game went on – culminated with her shot being well saved by the Cray keeper. Unfortunately for the goalie, she could only push the ball into the path of the onrushing Evans who was left with a tap-in to put Newhaven 2-0 up.

Cray were reeling. It didn’t take long for the Dockers to deliver the knock-out blow. And what a goal it was, too. With Cray struggling to clear their lines, Evans rolled the ball into the path of Jess Mead and the right-back promptly found the back of the net with a first-time finish from the corner of the 18-yard-box.

With the game all-but won, there was no let up from the hosts. More chances came; more chances went. Cray had their goalkeeper to thank for keeping the score-line respectable, pulling off a string of fine saves. The most notable came from Smith, who burst through one-on-one, only to be denied the goal her performance deserved.

At the other end, Cray were struggling to produce any chances of note. There was one slightly hairy moment when a mix-up between the Dockers defence and goalkeeper Annie Hills almost let the visitors in, but the situation was swiftly dealt with and the chance was gone.

As well as the Cray goalkeeper had played, there was little she could do to prevent Newhaven from adding their fourth five minutes from time. After yet another surge down the left, Smith had the presence of mind to square the ball into the path of Evans, who produced a tidy finish to round-off the scoring.

It was a comprehensive victory for the Dockers, with a commanding performance that should have led to a greater victory margin.

From my point of view, as a women’s team novice, it was also a performance that I found hugely impressive. Especially given the fact they were coming off the back of two, let’s be honest, absolute tonkings!

The only negative of the day was that there weren’t more people at Fort Road to see it.

Considering admission is free, the bar is open, there’s hot food available and the standard of football is decent, it’s fair to say the Ladies team don’t get the crowds they deserve (I'm as guilty as anyone on this; something I'm planning to rectify this season).

Two consecutive away games await the team over the next couple of weeks – at Eastbourne United and Herne Bay – before two home games in a row: Maidstone United in the league (25^th September) and then a tasty-looking FA Cup tie against Fulham (2^nd October).

What not come down and check out one of the games? They’re easy on your wallet and I have a sneaky suspicion that you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you watch. I'll hopefully see you there!

My player of the match (aka, the controversial part): Chloe Evans. Even without her two goals, Evans was hugely impressive. Constantly busy and involved, the striker led from the front and her off-the-ball movement, and ability to find pockets of space, caused a plethora of problems for the Cray defence.