No horror-show for dominant Dockers

Newhaven 6 Pagham 0, Peter Bentley Cup Round 3

What a difference a few days can make.

On Saturday, the Dockers played out a dour draw in a dismal league encounter against Hassocks. Entertainment was in short supply and Newhaven appeared strangely out-of-sorts.

Fast-forward little more than 72-hours and the difference in performance levels was simply staggering. I’m sure the management team would have asked for a reaction. Boy did they get one!

In Pagham, the Dockers were facing a team ensconced in mid-table. A team we would probably expect to beat; albeit one we needed a very late, hugely controversial penalty to get a point against just a few weeks earlier.

Yet there seems to be something about the Peter Bentley Cup - which we're the current holders of - that always brings the best out of Newhaven. That was very much the case last night.

From the moment Lee Robinson played in Rob Malila to open the scoring in the fourth minute there was only going to be one winner.

Strangely, Pagham had seen most of the ball up until this point, but buoyed by the confidence of the early goal, the Dockers proceeded to tear their opponents to shreds.

It was two seven minutes later. Alfie Rogers was clumsily fouled in the area and, from the resulting spot-kick, the same player blasted the ball straight down the middle to double Newhaven’s advantage.

Five minutes later, Newhaven should have been out of sight. Lee Robinson went clear through on goal, only to hit a tame shot straight at the Pagham ‘keeper.

Soon after, came the only dampener of the evening (weather aside) as Josh Tuck pulled up injured and was quickly replaced, hopefully only as a precaution.

Yet this blow didn’t in the least disrupt the Dockers flow. In the 23^rd minute it was three.

Good build-up play involving Ryan Blunt, Bailie Rogers and Alfie Rogers culminated with Lee Robinson threading the ball through to Callum Edwards who made no mistake from close-range.

Ten minutes before the interval, Lee Robinson missed another presentable opportunity to get himself on the scoresheet, this time clipping the outside of the post from a tight-ish angle.

No to be denied, though, Robbo – who looked back to his lively best – did finally get himself onto the scoresheet barely a minute later, finishing comfortably after being brilliantly played though by Alfie Rogers.

Two minutes after that, he would almost certainly have had a second had he not been cynically scythed down by the Pagham goalkeeper for a penalty with the goal gaping. To no one’s great surprise (aside from the goalkeeper’s apparently), a red card was shown and the visitors were reduced to ten. Cue a full-blown tantrum by a grown adult in the penalty area. Things you love to see.

To everyone’s surprise, Alfie Rogers missed the chance to extend Newhaven’s lead, blasting his penalty wide, much to the relief of Pagham’s makeshift keeper.

Early in the second half, the Dockers grabbed a fifth. This time Ian Robinson was the creator, being played in down the left by Alfie Rogers and crossing low for Edwards to grab his second of the match.

Lee Robinson then went close to notching his second only to see his well-struck effort crash off the underside of the crossbar and, according to the officials, not cross the line, before Blunt curled just over from the edge of the area.

The sixth goal wasn’t long in coming, though. Having dallied on the ball and just about gotten away with it a couple of times already, the makeshift visiting keeper was caught in possession by Alfie Rogers, whose block tackle spun up into the air and into the back of the net.

With half-an-hour still to play, I’m sure Pagham feared the worst but, credit to them, they did improve a bit from that moment on, albeit aided by Newhaven slightly lifting their foot off the gas, and taking the opportunity to rest some key players ahead of Saturday’s match – more on that in a bit.

This raft of substitutions heralded a debut for another young Docker, Harry Sands, who looked neat and tidy in possession and even saw a late rising effort narrowly clear the cross-bar.

At the other end of the age spectrum, Ryan Walton also got some minutes, this time in his more usual striking position. With a few minutes left, Walton thought he’d nabbed a seventh, only for Luca Page to be flagged offside in the build-up.

Ultimately, though, no further goals were added to the scoreline and, to my recollection, the match finished with Pagham failing to have so much as a single shot on goal.

This was dominance personified and a show of what the Dockers can do to teams when they’re at it.

Hopefully they will be at it again on Saturday, when Haywards Heath visit Fort Road in a crucial-looking league match. 

Haywards Heath were arguably one of the title favourites going into this season and, while they’ve had a mixed start to the campaign, they remain firmly in promotion contention.

On paper, it’s arguably Newhaven’s toughest test so far this season, so a big crowd would be welcome to cheer the boys on.

And the huge games at Fort Road just keep on coming. On November 11^th, we’re at home once again for an FA Vase match against SCEFL Premier Division side Deal Town. Your support would once again be massively appreciated.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Lee Robinson. Yes, he could – and should – have scored more, but this was more like it from Robbo. Lively throughout and looking sharper than he has so far this season, Robinson created two goals, scored one, hit the bar and got brought down for a penalty. The confidence he will take from the goal he did score could be crucial for the Dockers over the coming weeks.