#COYD - Come on You Dockers

Newhaven 4 Loxwood 2, SCFL Premier Division match #38 And so another league season reaches its conclusion. Unfortunately, the campaign didn’t have the fairytale ending that us Newhaven fans were hoping for. There were to be no slip-ups from Broadbridge Heath or Crawley Down Gatwick in the final week of the season, with the former being proclaimed league champions and the latter taking the runners-up spot, thereby earning a promotion play-off match. Meaning we had to contend with a second successive third-place finish. Our congratulations go out to both of those two teams at the end of what has been a long, gruelling season. Also, best of luck to Crawley Down in the play-off! In truth, a lot of the drama was taken out of yesterday afternoon’s fixture even before the game against Loxwood had kicked off. With Crawley Down’s match against Roffey being, slightly bafflingly, allowed to kick-off an hour before everyone elses, the knowledge that they were 3-1 up at half-time in a g...

  Eastbourne Town 0 Newhaven FC 3, SCFL Premier Division match #37 What a difference a few days makes. Having looked like their league season was effectively over following Easter Monday’s disappointing performance and result at local rivals Peacehaven , the Dockers will now definitely go into the final Saturday of the season next weekend still in with a chance of claiming a runners-up spot.  Maybe even with an outside chance (admittedly a very outside chance) of winning the title. More on that later. Neither scenario had looked particularly likely at just after 13:00 five days ago. To keep their season alive the equation was simple.  Newhaven had to go to Eastbourne Town and win; then hope results elsewhere went their way. Not being able to affect what happens elsewhere, all the Dockers could do was make sure they returned from the Saffrons with three-points; whilst keeping their collective fingers tightly crossed. It was a task that would be far easier said ...

Peacehaven and Telscombe 4 Newhaven 0, SCFL Premier Division match #36 Sometimes a scoreline tells you everything you need to know about a game.  This, unfortunately, is one of those times. On an unseasonably miserably wet Easter Monday morning, Newhaven’s chances of finishing second – and thereby snatching a promotion play-off spot – took a literal battering. Despite arriving at Piddinghoe Avenue on the back of a ten-match unbeaten run, three draws in their last four matches had threatened to derail Newhaven’s promotion aspirations. Still, belief remained that three wins from their remaining three league games could still be enough for Newhaven to potentially end the season on a high. Local rivals Peacehaven, though, were never going to lay down and let the Dockers merely take three points without a fight. In fact, since their chances of winning silverware were effectively ended with defeat to Crowborough in the semi-finals of the Peter Bentley Cup last month – thus endi...

Newhaven 0 Eastbourne United 0, SCFL Premier Division match #35 The fat lady – sorry, you probably can’t say that these days; let’s go with rotund lady, actually I’m not sure that’s not any better, anyway you know what I’m trying to say – may not be singing quite yet, but she’s sure getting close. Following yesterday’s home match against Eastbourne United, the Dockers’ title dream finally appears to have run its course. With Broadbridge Heath now requiring just one win from their remaining three games to make winning the title an impossibility – and that’s assuming Newhaven win all three of theirs – a runners-up spot, and the lottery of a play-off seems Newhaven’s only likely route to promotion. However, with Crawley Down Gatwick just a point behind, and with a game in hand (which, of course, only matters if they win it), you get the sense that the battle for second is going right down to the wire. In fairness, yesterday’s game was never going to be easy. For the players to p...

Newhaven Ladies last night claimed the club’s first silverware of the season, with a resounding 5-1 victory in the final of the Eastbourne FA Cup. Up against league rivals Bexhill United at Eastbourne Town’s The Saffrons ground, the Dockers blew their opponents away with three goals in a blistering opening 20-minute salvo. Strikes from Jamie Quinn, captain Lauren Smith and top-scorer Chloe Evans put Newhaven into a dominant position early-on.  Although Bexhill responded with a goal of their own in the 23 rd minute, the Dockers kept their composure to take a two-goal advantage into the interval. In the second-half, Newhaven added two further goals. First Chelsea Cook extended the team’s lead in the 54 th minutes, before Charlotte Markham added the icing on the cake in the 90 th minute from the penalty spot.  Cue joyous celebrations for the club’s players, managers, officials, and supporters. The Cup triumph is just reward for Andy Cook’s side, who have been firing on all...

Horsham YMCA 1 Newhaven FC 3, SCFL Premier Division Match #34 With the great British weather continuing to play havoc with fixtures across Sussex even though we’re now, supposedly, heading towards the middle of Spring, a decision was taken earlier in the week to switch Newhaven’s scheduled away fixture against Horsham YMCA to Fort Road. It was a wise decision. With games featuring Newhaven’s two title rivals – Broadbridge Heath and Crawley Down Gatwick – both falling foul of the prevailing wet weather, the switch of venue gave the Dockers a chance to exert a little bit of extra pressure in the title race. It’s been a while since I can honestly say I’ve really enjoyed watching a Newhaven game. Or, to be more accurate, felt relaxed whilst watching one. They’re still enjoyable, I suppose. Kind of.  But ever since the Dockers smashed 11 past Roffey back in mid-February, every following match seems to have been fraught with peril. It’s no surprise really. As the season moves ...