#COYD - Come on You Dockers

  Newhaven 3 Peacehaven and Telscombe 2, SCFL Premier Division Match #20 Of all the many Christmas traditions, Boxing Day football has always been one of my absolute favourites. A few years ago, before I once again fell in love with non-league football, this would have meant a day spent on the sofa, eating and drinking too much, whilst watching countless matches on the TV. Nowadays, though, that tradition (weather permitting) means getting up early and heading to either Fort Road or Piddinghoe Avenue to watch the local derby between Newhaven and Peacehaven. With an 11am kick-off, it’s the perfect way to start a day before settling down on a sofa to eat, drink and watch even more football! And it would seem that I’m far from the only one who enjoys this tradition.  I can’t speak for the players (many of whom will have to curtail their own Christmas Day alcohol intake.. probably), but supporters certainly seem to love the early Boxing Day kick-off times. Close to 750...

Newhaven 1 Steyning 4, SCFL Premier Division Match #18 Following a rare Saturday off, Newhaven were back at Fort Road yesterday afternoon, in league action against fellow promotion hopefuls Steyning. With a large proportion of the SCFL schedule falling foul of the frozen conditions, this presented the Dockers with an ideal opportunity to close the gap on Crawley Down Gatwick at the top of the table. Not that it would be an easy task. Newhaven already knew that Steyning were not to be taken lightly, having lost the reverse fixture in rather warmer conditions at the Shooting Field on the opening day of the season . After a fine start to the campaign, the Barrowmen’s season looked to have come off the rails around a month ago, following a run of five league games without a win. This run was halted in quite brilliant fashion just a week ago, however, when they thrashed previous league leaders Broadbridge Heath 4-1. A result that had been warmly welcomed by Fort Road regulars. Not a...

Whitehawk 1 Newhaven 2, SCFA Senior Cup Round Two It had started to seem like Newhaven simply weren’t destined to visit Whitehawk’s Enclosed Ground this season.  First, back in July, a pre-season friendly there had to be cancelled due to the weather being too hot. Then, last week’s Sussex Senior Cup meeting was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Thankfully, it was to be a case of third-time lucky, as no further climatic conditions contrived to call-off a meeting between the two sides this time around. Whitehawk are arguably Sussex football’s form team this season. They are currently just three points off the summit of the higher-level Isthmian League South-East Division, having lost just once and conceded a meagre eight goals in 14 league games. No matter what way you examined it, this was going to be an extremely tough game for the Dockers. Yet, make no bones about it, it is in this very division that (fingers-crossed) Newhaven hope to be plying their trade next seaso...