#COYD - Come on You Dockers

Bexhill United 2 Newhaven 0, SCFL Premier Division match #25 The Dockers headed east for the second time in the space of five days yesterday, this time to take on Bexhill United. Having played the Pirates twice already this season – once in the cup and once in the league – Newhaven knew they were in for a tough afternoon’s work, regardless of Bexhill’s mid-table league position. Boasting a decent squad, Bexhill have suffered with consistency at times this season and should almost certainly be closer to the top of the table than they actually are. Nevertheless, coming off the back of a heavy midweek defeat against Peacehaven, on the same night Newhaven brushed aside Little Common , the Dockers will have been confident of victory ahead of the match. The scene for the game was set in the early exchanges, with a (mostly) big Bexhill side making clear their intention from the outset. The best way to mitigate the bobbly playing surface was to keep the ball off it as much as humanly p...

  Little Common 0 Newhaven 3, SCFL Premier Division match #24 Newhaven headed east to Little Common on Tuesday night knowing that a win would take them back to the top of the table. Okay, so the two teams closest to them – Crawley Down Gatwick and Broadbridge Heath – still have a number of games in hand, but at this stage all the Dockers can do is keep winning and hope that their title rivals slip up over the coming weeks. Hopefully numerous times! Newhaven had already visited Little Common’s revamped ground earlier in the season, running out 5-1 winners in the Peter Bentley Cup. However, as Common proved in the reverse league fixture , held just a week after their cup encounter, the team from just outside Bexhill are certainly no pushovers. On that occasion, they’d made Newhaven work hard for their three points. There was no reason to believe that it would be any different this time around. Especially on a bobbly pitch which, considering the weather over the past few weeks, ...

Skilful attacking midfielder Jamie Quinn becomes the latest Newhaven Ladies player to spill the beans on her teammates – and tell us which biscuit needs to get out of the tin! Who do you not want on the opposing team at training and why? Ellie Coade. She’s just such a solid player and so hard to get past! Someone offers you £100 for one of your teammates to hit the crossbar, who are you choosing? [Charlotte] Markham! Which teammate is likely to become a manager or coach after they finish playing? I’d say Faye [Hannaford]. She’s already good at telling us what to do on the pitch, I’m sure she’d be just as good off it! Who would be in your ultimate Newhaven Ladies 5 aside team, using current squad or coaches? Faye, Markham, Saoirse [Burke], Sals [Emily Salusbury] and Chloe [Evans]. Which teammate is likely to incur the most fines this season? What fine will be their undoing? Probably me, I get nutmegged about 5 times every training session by Summer [Dutton] and Saoirse...

  Newhaven 3 Lingfield 1, SCFL Premier Division match #23 After last week’s defeat against league leaders Crawley Down Gatwick , Newhaven returned to action this afternoon knowing that, if promotion is to be achieved this season, there is little room for any further error. Their promotion aim was undoubtedly made somewhat harder earlier in the week, with the departure of talisman and top-scorer Alfie Rogers, who signed for higher-division Whitehawk (his former club).  While his absence will no doubt be keenly felt at Fort Road, the return of Lukas Franzen-Jones from Haywards Heath has perhaps managed soften the blow somewhat. Find consistency, and promotion still remains a real possibility for the Dockers come the end of the season. Not that this afternoon’s opponents Lingfield would be a pushover. Despite their fairly lowly league position, the Lingers have proved tough to beat. They’d run fellow title challengers Broadbridge Heath and Crawley Down Gatwick close in re...

Newhaven 0 Crawley Down Gatwick 1, SCFL Premier Division Match #22 As far as opening home matches of 2023 go, a game pitting the division’s top two against each other is about as big as it gets. Newhaven entertained current league leaders Crawley Down Gatwick knowing that a win would see them go top of the division for the first time in a few months by virtue of a superior goal difference.  But with the visitors on an eight-match winning streak in the league, having last tasted defeat way back on 15 th October (in the league), the Dockers always knew that a tough afternoon lay ahead. The match clearly caught the attention of the local population, with Fort Road witnessing yet another bumper crowd; this time of just over 400. That means that over 1,000 people have passed through the Trafalgar Ground turnstiles in the past two games alone, once again pointing to the fact that Newhaven are a team on the up. Backed by a vociferous crowd, Newhaven started the game on the ascenden...

 After a brief hiatus, the ever-popular Teammates feature returns to the #COYD blog for 2023, new and improved for the New Year. Newhaven Ladies’ goalkeeper, Annie Hills, becomes the latest Docker to dish the dirt on her teammates. Who would be in your ultimate Newhaven Ladies 5-a-side team, using current squad or coaches? Marks [Charlotte Markham], Faye [Hannaford], Summer [Dutton], Ellie [Coade], Chloe [Evans]. Which teammate is most likely to become a manager or coach after they finish playing? Lucy [Collinson].  Someone offers you £100 for one of your teammates to hit the crossbar, who are you choosing? Myself 😂 Which teammate is likely to incur the most fines this season? What fine will be their undoing? Faye for her big mouth 😂 Who would you not want on the opposing team at training and why ? Lauren [Smith]. She is too fast and her kicks are too powerful As part of a training session there's a keepy-uppy competition. Who comes out on top and who f...

Saltdean United 0 Newhaven 7, SCFL Premier Division match #21 After last week’s thrilling Boxing Day victory over Peacehaven , Newhaven started the New Year with another local derby, this time away at Saltdean. As mentioned in the report of the previous match between these two teams back in August , The Tigers are a very different proposition this season from the ones they have been in recent years. Without a win since 29 th October, this was a match the Dockers should clearly have been expecting to win. But, as we’ve seen with Newhaven at times this season, expecting to win and winning doesn’t always go hand-in-hand. Having spent much of the weekend confidently insisting to my sons that there was no chance the game would go ahead due to the weather, I was surprised (and needless to say very happy) to note the early-morning Tweet on Saltdean’s Twitter feed confirming that the game was on. So before I get started on the match report, a quick doff of the hat to all the Saltdean vo...