#COYD - Come on You Dockers

Newhaven 3 Eastbourne Town 0, Peter Bentley Cup Round 2 Back in May, Newhaven lifted the Peter Bentley Cup for a second time, seeing off Crowbrough Athletic in a tense final. Fast-forward four months, and their defence of the competition couldn’t have gotten off to a much tougher start. At least on paper. Eastbourne Town have been flying in recent weeks, soaring to the summit of the SCFL Premier Division Table and knocking-out hitherto unbeaten Steyning in the RUR Cup a week ago. Fortunately, after a mixed start to the season, Newhaven have been picking up form of late as well. They headed into last night’s encounter on a four-match winning streak and boasting back-to-back clean sheets to boot. In a battle of two form teams a close, competitive game appeared to be on the cards. As it turned out, it was a rather routine win for the Dockers who put in arguably their best 90-minute performance to date this season. In fact, were it not for Town’s impressive young keeper Toby Bu...

  Rusthall 0 Newhaven 2, FA Vase Second Qualifying Round An FA Vase game may not carry the glamour and prestige of an FA Cup match, but for Step 5 and 6 clubs up and down the UK, it’s a competition that offers non-league teams a realistic chance of a day out at Wembley. Fellow Sussex club Littlehampton proved it could be done two seasons ago when they reached the final, while local rivals Peacehaven were two matches away from a trip to the Twin Towers last season. However, it’s a competition that for, whatever reason, Newhaven haven’t had a lot of success in, in recent seasons. They haven't reached the First Round Proper for three years. This afternoon, we arrived in Rusthall, Kent, hopeful that this could be the year we can finally enjoy something of an extended run in the competition. With Rusthall currently sitting in lower mid-table in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division, having accrued eight points from eight matches, it was certainly a winnab...

Saltdean United 0 Newhaven 3, SCFL Premier Division match #9 It’s fair to say the weather has well and truly turned. Autumn has arrived. Proper football weather is here. And probably here to stay! Whereas just 10 days ago, I stood on the side of the pitch in Loxwood , practically melting whilst just spectating, last night the winter clothes were out in full-force on a blustery and, occasionally, wet night in Saltdean. With the conditions likely to make flowing football difficult, maintaining concentration was essential as Newhaven looked to extend their league winning run to three matches. Especially with local rivals Saltdean, managed by former Newhaven stalwart (dare we say legend?) Kieran Ridley, certain to be up for the task of trying to break the Dockers' momentum. A fast start was essential. And a fast start is most certainly what we got. Surprisingly, Saltdean seemingly decided to kick against the strong wind in the first-half, handing Newhaven a clear advantage. I...

Newhaven 6 Shoreham 1, SCFL Premier Division match #8 Having huffed and puffed their way to three points in the Loxwood heat last weekend, Newhaven went into Saturday’s fixture at home to Shoreham looking to record back-to-back league wins for the first time this season. In theory, this match provided Newhaven the prefect opportunity to exactly this. Shoreham have found life tough following promotion last season, with just one-point to their name after their opening eight games. However, a midweek managerial change at Middle Road will have left the Dockers wary of the new manager bounce that so many teams seem to enjoy. Yet from the early stages, a shock result never really appeared to be on the cards here. Right from the off, the Dockers controlled the game, albeit without looking overly threatening for most of the first-half. While there was a fairly steady procession of shots aimed towards the Shoreham goal, most of those shots ended up going straight at the visiting ‘keep...

Loxwood 2 Newhaven 4, SCFL Premier Division match #7 After Tuesday night’s disappointment at home to Lingfield , the Dockers headed to Loxwood this afternoon desperately in need of three points to get their season back on track. After a slow start to the season, Loxwood had picked up their first league win of 2023/24 in mid-week and were no doubt looking to capitalise on any chinks that may appear in Newhaven’s confidence. In conditions more akin to a pre-season friendly than a match played on the second Saturday of September, it was the hosts who started on the front-foot. They could have been ahead inside two minutes if it hadn’t been for Jake Buss… again… coming to Newhaven’s rescue. As on Tuesday night, though, the early warning wasn’t heeded. On four minutes the Magpies took the lead. A quick passing move too easily cut apart Newhaven’s right flank, and a good finish from Tristan Pereira made it seem that another tricky afternoon awaited. Thankfully, unlike on Tuesday ...

Newhaven 2 Lingfield 3, SCFL Premier Division match #6 Steady if not spectacular. This is a sentence that pretty much sums up Newhaven’s opening month of the league campaign. While two wins and three draws isn’t exactly the lightning-fast start we were hoping for, neither is nine points from a possible 15 an unmitigated disaster. It's steady. Not spectacular. Yet hopes that September would be the month that we really got going were dealt a blow (several, in fact) before we even took to the pitch for yesterday evening’s home encounter with Lingfield. Through a combination of injury, holiday, university and work commitments, the Dockers were without a number of players for last night’s match. Bailie Rogers, Billy Barker, Tarun Rohilla, Robbie Keith, Ryan Blunt, Callum Edwards and Luca Page all joining long-term absentees Lee Robinson and Harry Reed on the unavailable list. It says much for Newhaven’s strength in depth that, despite these missing players, they were still...

Newhaven Ladies 2 Bognor Regis Town Women 0, LSEWFL Division 1 South match #3 Newhaven Ladies’ flying start to the new season continued on Sunday afternoon as they saw off the challenge of Bognor Regis Town. Having started the season with two successive victories in Sussex derbies – 4-1 against Hastings and 4-0 against Bexhill – the Dockers were looking to keep the run going against yet another Sussex side. Bognor Regis are new to this level, having gained promotion after finishing second in the Sussex County Football League last time out. In fact, this was actually their first competitive match of the season, having had their previous fixtures postponed. Newhaven’s extra match sharpness was in evidence during the early stages of the match, as they swarmed all over their visitors, keen to continue their free-scoring start to the season. However, a lack of composure in front of goal meant that despite waves of pressure, the Bognor Regis goal led a charmed life. When the open...

Cray Wanderers 5 Newhaven 1, FA Cup First Qualifying Round For the first time in 61 years, the Dockers took their place in the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup this afternoon. Their reward for having disposed of Little Common and Spelthorne in the two Preliminary Rounds was a trip to Bromley for a match against Isthmian Premier League Side, Cray Wanderers. While this was far from the easiest tie we could have hoped for, it did at least offer Newhaven the opportunity to play at a National League stadium as Cray are currently long-term tenants of Bromley FC; albeit, not for much longer as a move to their own ground moves ever nearer. Last season, the Wanderers reached the league play-offs, only missing out on a chance to move 90 minutes away from the National League South in a penalty shoot-out.  This season, though, has been a different story, with Cray having failed to gain a point from their opening four games; scoring just once and conceding ten times. A glimmer of...