Gritty point to start the season

Horsham YMCA 1 Newhaven FC 1, SCFL Premier Division Match #1

And so it begins.

Another nine months of elation, frustration, confusion and celebration.

Another nine months of twists and turns; of weekends made better and of weekends ruined.

Another nine months that, let's be honest, we wouldn’t swap for anything else. Well… mostly.

Bring it on!

For the Dockers, the new season started with an away trip to Gorings Mead, home of Horsham YMCA.

It’s a ground we didn’t actually visit last season due to circumstances (namely the weather) meaning that both games ended up being played at Fort Road.

With a new-look side – five players were making their competitive debuts for the Dockers this afternoon; Owen Muller, Callum Edwards, Ryan Warwick, Luca Page and Sean Stephenson – Newhaven were keen to get the campaign off to a good start.

After opening last season with two defeats – losses that it could easily be argued ultimately cost the Dockers promotion – the team were keen to ensure that a similarly slow start wasn’t made this time around.

However, an away match at YM was always going to prove to be a tricky proposition, and after just 23 minutes of action the task of starting the season with a win became decidedly trickier.

After a cagey opening, with both teams feeling each other out, and very little goalmouth action to speak of, the referee took it upon himself to make the game a little more entertaining.

Following a foul by Alfie Rogers – for what he was booked – a mele ensued which ended with his brother, Bailie, being shown a straight red card. To most of the watching crowd’s bemusement.

No one seemed exactly sure what had happened. Including the ref who, when questioned at half-time regarding the offence, seemed hard-pressed to say exactly what Bailie had done wrong. Was it a headbutt? A raised arm? Who knows?

 The Veo footage will hopefully shed a little more light on the nature of the ‘offence’. 

I’m going to move on from the officials now. This blog would be far too long otherwise!

Reduced to ten men with just under 70 minutes still to play (it proved to be nearly 80 by the time added-time was accounted for), Newhaven were suddenly facing an uphill struggle.

In fairness, the ten minutes or so following the red card was arguably Newhaven’s best period of the match to that point. Although they didn’t exactly lay siege to the YM goal, they did create a couple of half-chances which hinted that maybe there was something in this game for them.

With half-time approaching, though, YM spurned the best opening of the half when their striker fired high and wide when well placed. Much to home goalkeeper’s obvious annoyance.

Having not really made the most of their numerical advantage in the first half, the hosts started the second-half well on top. 

Were it not for a couple of fine saves from Jake Buss – the first of which was particularly outstanding, flying across the goal to tip over a shot that had seemed destined for the top corner – and a goalline clearance, YM could have been home and dry inside the opening ten minutes of the restart.

Having ridden out the storm, it was the Dockers who took the lead. Some great interplay in the YM area between Stephenson, Page and Warwick, culminated with the ball being placed across goal and Warwick opening his Dockers account with a well-taken finish.

The smash and grab was on.

And, despite YM continuing to push forward, Newhaven were managing to keep their hosts at arm’s length. 

A shout-out here has to go out to each member of the backline, with Billy Barker, Muller, Conor Sidwell and makeshift left-back Edwards, all doing their bit and more to keep the lead intact.

However, it was never a comfortable lead. Despite how well the Dockers were defending, the hosts always looked a threat.

With 18 minutes remaining, YM got the equaliser that their pressure had been threatening. A long throw-in caused havoc in the penalty area, and after a couple of unfortunate – or fortunate depending on your point of view – ricochets, the ball landed at the feet of Tom Tolfrey who tucked home the leveller.

As you'd expect, YMCA poured forward at this point looking for a winner. The Dockers defence continued to hold firm.

With the match entering the first of what seemed like half-an-hour of injury time, the hosts were also reduced to ten men by virtue of the sin bin, after an assistant alerted the ref to something that was presumably said to him by a YM player.

Don’t get me started on the sin bin…

With YM’s numerical advantage having been shorn, the Dockers very nearly won the match with the last kick of the game.

Substitute James Rhodes fed fellow sub Tyler Scrafton. Scrafton burst into the area, stepped past his marker and unleashed a well-hit shot that, unfortunately for us, was right at the home goalkeeper.

So it’s a point to start the season. A point that you have to say was a very good one, given the early red card. Certainly it was a point gained rather than two lost. And it leaves us better off than where we were this time last season. That's a positive, surely!

Forget what I said earlier about nine months of elation, frustration, confusion and celebration. I felt all of these during this 90 minutes alone!

There’s no midweek game, so we’re next in action next Saturday, when Little Common visit Fort Road in the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup. It would be great to see as many people there as possible. After all, who doesn’t fancy a little run in the world’s oldest cup competition?

The next league action takes place in two weeks’ time, when we visit Midhurst and Easebourne. Fingers crossed we can build on today’s solid opening and really get our league season going with a win.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Jake Buss. In fairness, this award could have gone to any of the back-line who finished the match; they all played their part. However, Buss gets my nod for the saves he made at the start of the second half which ultimately kept us in the game. Quick note, this award is different to the one that some of you will have seen as a vote on Twitter. That’s just your chance to have your say and prove my pick wrong; which I’m sure will happen plenty over the coming weeks and months!

After the match, Reuben caught up with Bussy to get the skipper’s thoughts on our start to the season.