Encouraging point for battling Dockers

Newhaven Ladies 0 Bromley FC Women 0, London & South East Women’s Football League Division 1 South, Match #7

The fixture Goddesses have not been kind to Newhaven Ladies so far this October.

Tough cup matches against Fulham and Brentford was followed by what proved to be an arduous home league match against all-conquering Hastings last week. The visit of high-flying Bromley to Fort Road this weekend was unlikely to be much easier.

Having tasted defeat just once in their opening six league games – winning the other five – Bromley were sure to prove another tough test for Newhaven. Especially with a number of key players missing for the Dockers for a variety of different reasons.

After just five minutes, it seemed like the Dockers would be facing a long afternoon. Bromley could – and perhaps should – have been two-up before Newhaven had settled, missing two presentable opportunities from close range.

Newhaven were finding it hard to get to grips with a confident-looking Bromley’s movement going forward, and chances continued to fall for the visitors at fairly regular intervals.

Fortunately (for the Dockers) Bromley’s finishing let them down time and time again, while stout defending from Newhaven’s defence – Charlotte Markham, in particular – and a string of important saves from Annie Hills kept the scores level.

Midway through the first-half, Bromley went as close as they would come to breaking the deadlock when a long-range shot flew past Hills only to rebound off the crossbar.

At the other end, Newhaven only managed to create a few half-chances. The best fell to Tara Reid who did well to cut inside a couple of challenges but couldn’t generate enough power in her shot to seriously trouble the Bromley keeper.

Unfortunately for Reid, her involvement in the game didn’t last a lot longer as she succumbed to what appeared to be a serious-looking knee injury. She was visibly distraught as she left the pitch, and I can only hope for her sake that the injury isn’t as bad as it first appears. Fingers very tightly crossed!

This left the Dockers without a recognised striker on the pitch. What already appeared to look like being a long, difficult afternoon to get any kind of result from, now looked more akin to mission impossible.

Having reached the interval goalless, though, the Dockers would have undoubtedly been the happier of the two teams. Bromley had been on top for the vast majority of the half and could easily have been out of sight. It seemed only a matter of time before Newhaven would succumb to the pressure.

Now, regular readers of this blog will be only too aware that I love a good cliché. So get ready, because here comes another one. This was to prove to be the proverbial game of two halves.

The second-half was the complete opposite of the first. From out of nowhere it was the Dockers who started to take the game to Bromley. The visitors seemed to be as confused by this turn of events as I was, and as Newhaven grew in confidence, Bromley were increasingly forced back. They looked worried. Suddenly it was the visitors who were hanging on.

Katie Franks was a particular thorn in the Bromley side, with her non-stop running causing their defence a plethora of problems down the right flank.

An angled drive from Emily Sailsbury looked to have given the Dockers the lead just after the hour mark, but unfortunately her rising effort rose an inch too high, and she became the second player of the afternoon to see her shot hit the bar.

The introduction of Newhaven's usual captain Lauren Smith - still working her way back to full fitness - only heightened the Dockers attacking threat. They continued to come forward at regular intervals. Were it not for a bit more composure in the area and perhaps a bit more confidence to get a shot away, the Bromley goalkeeper – a replacement for the first-choice goalie who was also injured in the first-half – could have found herself more tested than she ultimately was.

While nowhere near the dominant force they had been in the first-half, Bromley still posed a constant threat on the break. The Dockers defence had a few hairy moments where it looked like the visitors may snatch a winner on the counter, but by hook or by crook the hosts managed to repel the visitor’s advances.

Come full-time, a draw was probably a fair result. Both teams could rightly claim to have been deserving of all three points, but at the same time each could have easily come off the pitch having lost the game too.

Given the tough run of results the Dockers have had to endure in recent weeks, it will undoubtedly be they who are happier with a morale-boosting point against what were a decent Bromley outfit.

Next weekend, Newhaven travel to Welling United for another league fixture, before another journey to Kent a week later when they face currently winless Maidstone.

The Ladies’ next match at Fort Road is scheduled to take place on the 13^th November, when Steyning Town are the visitors in what should be a cracking all-Sussex affair.

Kick off is at 14:00 and it would be great to see a few more people there. The female Dockers are improving rapidly and deserve more spectators at all of their games. Come down and give them a watch if you can. You won’t leave disappointed.

Come On You Dockers!

My player of the match (aka, the controversial part): Katie Franks. There were a host of players who could have justly claimed this award – Ellie Coade and Charlotte Markham to name just two – but Franks worked tirelessly throughout, and her willingness to carry the ball downfield often helped to relieve pressure from the defence.

There seems to be a bit of reluctance when it comes to getting a video interview with Reuben at the moment – come on ladies, don’t be shy – but all the images used in this post are courtesy of him. I do like to keep him busy!