Dockers successfully navigate tricky Tuesday trip

 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, was nevertheless in decent nick. Well done to the groundstaff!

It was the Dockers who started the match the brighter of the two sides. Lee Robinson almost opened the scoring inside the first minute only to be denied by a good save from the home-side’s goalkeeper.

The Little Common keeper was then called into action again a few minutes later, pulling off a series of outstanding saves in the space of about 10-seconds as a queue of Docker’s players lined up to try and give the visitors the lead.

Yet Newhaven weren’t having things all their own way. While Little Common’s direct style may not have been particularly aesthetically pleasing, it did, on occasion, look like it could be effective. The Newhaven back four were called upon time and time again to keep the hosts from getting any clear sights of Jake Buss’s goal.

With the match starting to get a little scrappy, Newhaven took the lead on the 20^th minute. Callum Connor, making his first start since re-signing for the club, found space in the area before producing a delightful chipped finish that found the back of the net. 

Connor has arrived at Fort Road with the reputation of being a lethal finisher. On this evidence it wasn’t hard to see why.

Newhaven continued to try and knock the ball about, but were struggling to find their rhythm at times; the bobbly surface not conducive to their slick, passing style of football.

In fairness, Common responded well to falling behind. They continued to probe at Newhaven’s defence with something of an aerial bombardment that ensured the visitors needed to stay switched-on at all times.

With half-time approaching, a Charlie Bennett burst from midfield culminated with the midfielder being clumsily brought down in the area for a stonewall penalty. The Little Common defender was perhaps fortunate to escape a second yellow for the infringement; the ref citing the double-jeopardy rule for his decision not to send the defender packing. To be honest, I thought this rule only came into play for straight red cards rather than second yellows… but, then, what do I know?

With regular penalty taker Alfie Rogers having departed for Whitehawk, it was left to Bennett to take the spot-kick and he made no mistake, slotting his effort past the outstretched arm of the goalie.

The second-half was a more open affair than the first had been. With Little Common now two behind, they began to commit more bodies forward, allowing Newhaven plenty of time and space on the break.

The hosts continued to search for openings, only to be continually repelled by Buss and his defenders who were proving nigh-on impossible to break down. Sure, it looked a little desperate at times; but it's that sort of last-ditch, body-in-the-way defending that maintains clean-sheets and (hopefully) helps win matches.

At the other end, Ian Robinson was starting to come alive, tormenting the Little Common defenders with his pace and constantly threatening to create chances for himself and his teammates. How he ended the match without a goal or multiple assists to his name is something of a mystery. 

The killer third goal arrived just after the hour. Good interplay between Ian Robinson and Lukas Franzen-Jones led to the latter threading a superb pass through to Connor. With just the goalkeeper to beat, the striker once again demonstrated his prowess in front of the goal, comfortably despatching the ball past the Little Common custodian for his second of the evening.

With both teams making a raft of changes soon after the third goal, the game began to lose a little of its flow. Sure, Little Common were still making life difficult for Newhaven, but it looked as though they never truly believed they were likely to stage a comeback.

Buss made a decent save to preserve his clean sheet, while at the other end Newhaven squandered a few opportunities to extend their lead. Most notably when the home keeper went walkabout only for James Rhodes to hesitate momentarily on the ball and get dispossessed before he could take advantage of the situation.

With time all but up, a frustrated Little Common player (there were a few by this point; one of whom was sin-binned for dissent) let out perhaps one of the worst heckles to a crowd that I’ve ever heard (and I’ve heard a few), demanding that all the Newhaven fans should “go back to their council estate”.

When it was then pointed out that, while perfectly pleasant, Little Common is also not the most salubrious town in Sussex (I didn’t use that word; I didn’t want to confuse him), he then rather bizarrely told us to go and check out the local house prices? One can only assume he spends an hour before each game checking the house prices of each opposing team’s town solely to make sure he can use his council estate taunt? Anyway, it’s always good to see that good old-fashioned (misguided) snobbery is still alive and well!

When the full-time whistle blew a few minutes later, Newhaven had secured the win that takes them back to the summit of the table – for now at least. While the scoreline arguably makes the game sound more comfortable than it really was, there’s little doubt that the Dockers were good value for their victory.

On Saturday, the boys travel east again, with another tricky-looking away tie; this time against a Bexhill United side that caused the Dockers a few problems in two meetings earlier this season; once in the cup and once in the league.

We’re then back at Fort Road on 4^th February when AFC Uckfield are the visitors. Six points from these two fixtures will undoubtedly be the target and your support, as ever, will be appreciated. It will also be essential in helping to the team achieving their goals.

Come On You Dockers!

My MOM (aka, the controversial part): Ian Robinson and Marcin Ruda. While there were a number of good performances across the pitch, Little Robbo’s second-half showing terrorised the Little Common defence and he gave the Docker’s defence a constant outlet when they were under pressure. Ruda, meanwhile, looked back to his industrious best, popping up all over the pitch to plug gaps, whilst using his skill to retain possession in tight areas. Special mention for Callum Connor here, too, for two well-taken goals. The first of what I’m sure will be many.