Newhaven lose ground in title race

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 ascendency, creating a number of presentable opportunities.

An early inviting-looking cross from Tom Cooklin flashed across the area without any Newhaven forward managing to get on the end of it, while Marcin Ruda was narrowly off target with a curling effort from just outside the area.

From the opposite flank, Ian Robinson put in another decent cross that was this time met by his brother, Lee, but the elder Robbo could only divert his effort narrowly wide of the far post. The Crawley Down goalkeeper then produced arguably the save of the match to deny Charlie Bennett just before the half-hour mark. From the resulting corner, Crawley Down’s defence somehow managed to clear the ball after a good old-fashioned goalmouth scramble.

Up to this point, Crawley Down hadn’t offered all that much going forward. A draw would have been a far better result for them then it would have been for the hosts. The onus was on the Dockers to take the game to the visitors and the West Sussex side appeared content to soak up the pressure and try to hit Newhaven on the counter. Sensible tactics, to be fair.

With the game nearing the interval, the Dockers seemed to take their foot off the gas a little, inviting Crawley Down to come forward for the first real time in the match. Jake Buss had to be alert to turn away a well-struck effort from the edge of the area as the visitors perhaps began to sense that a goal was there for the taking.

Indeed, that goal arrived in stoppage time at the end of the first-half. A quick break allowed Rhys Whyte to get the wrong side of his marker, but he still had plenty to do as he cut inside one challenge, kept his composure, before smashing a low shot past Buss.

For the first time in the afternoon, Fort Road fell almost eerily silent (aside from a smattering of cheers coming from the visiting contingent, of course); the majority of the crowd wondering quite how the Dockers were heading into the half-time break trailing.

The goal certainly seemed to deflate the players slightly, with an expected onslaught at the start of the second-half never really materialising.

The management responded by changing shape fairly early on in the half, bringing on the recently re-signed Callum Connor and John Lucero in a hunt for the equaliser. Suddenly, the Dockers seemed to be playing with as many as six people up-front at times, and while this certainly made them look more threatening, it also afforded Crawley Down plenty of space on the break.

Indeed, for a 10 or 15 minute-period in the second-half, the game resembled a basketball match more than a football one, with play going from one end of the field to the other at breakneck pace. In truth, it was the visitors who looked more likely to score in this period, managing to outnumber Newhaven on the counter on numerous occasions as the Dockers continued to pour men forward. Buss was on hand on a couple of occasions stop his side falling further behind.

With around 20-minutes left, and with rain now falling with a Biblical intensity, Newhaven started to settle and exert some serious pressure for the first time in the half. The Crawley Down goalkeeper made a few decent saves as Newhaven started to once again build up a head of steam, while his defence were throwing themselves in the way of anything loose in the box to the frustration of Newhaven’s myriad of attackers.

Lee Robinson had a chance to equalise after brilliantly finding some space for himself in the area only to not manage to get enough purchase into his subsequent shot, while a header from a corner also flew inches the wrong side of the post (from our perspective).

With the game deep into injury time (of which there was plenty; Crawley Down players seeming to go down with alarming regularity), Newhaven were presented with one final chance. An Alfie Rogers free-kick.

Regular readers of this blog (along with the Fort Road faithful) will know that it hasn’t quite happened for Rogers from free-kicks this season. But if ever there was a time for him to rediscover his set-piece prowess, then this was it.

In fairness, there was very little wrong with the subsequent effort as, with the aid of a slight deflection, the ball whistled towards the goal, seemingly destined to nestle in the corner, only to thump the post and bounce away to safety.

If ever there was a moment that summed up your day, then this was it.!

The final whistle sounded soon after, and it was clear to see from the very different reactions between the two sets of players just how big this result could be come the end of the season.

However, don’t get me wrong, Newhaven aren’t out of the title race yet. We – they – have to believe it’s still possible. It is. There’s still plenty of time left. But the room for further errors is now almost non-existent.

There’s no doubting that Newhaven were unlucky to lose this game – it’s arguably the first time they’ve lost a league match this season when they really didn’t deserve to – but at the same time it does continue a slightly worrying trend of losing to the other teams immediately around them in the table.

Their five defeats have now come against Crawley Down (twice), third-placed Broadbridge Heath and fourth-placed Steyning (also twice).

Of course, taking a glass half-full approach, this means that the players know they can definitely get results against the majority of the teams they have left to face. They’ve already done so this season. There is nothing left to fear. Get back on a winning run, keep the pressure on and, fingers crossed, by the time we travel to Broadbridge Heath for the return league match in March, we’ll be well set to put our top-four jinx to bed.

With another home match coming up next week against Lingfield, it would be great to see another big crowd at Fort Road. There are still 16 league matches to go. 16 cup finals. Your ongoing support at each and every one of them would be much appreciated.

Come On You Dockers!

My MOM (aka, the controversial part): Henry Watson. As usual the centre back was nigh-on faultless at the back – emphasised by a crunching 50/50 challenge in the second-half – while he was also a constant driving force going forward, bringing the ball confidently out of defence and sparking a number of attacks.