Rogers double sees Dockers at Christmas number one

Eastbourne Town 1 Newhaven 2, SCFL Premier Division match #19

With Crowborough not in action yesterday, Newhaven headed to The Saffrons knowing that a victory over Eastbourne Town would put them top of the league at Christmas.

They also knew they’d have to be at their best to secure those three-points, against an always competitive Eastbourne Town team.

The match pitted the side with the best attacking record in the division – Newhaven with 53 goals – against the side with the joint-best defence – Town having conceded just 17 prior to kick-off, along with Peacehaven.

Probably no great surprise then that much of the opening half of this match did somewhat resemble an attack vs defence drill.

The Dockers started on the front foot, and almost made a perfect start when after only 15 seconds Lee Robinson’s effort bobbled just wide from a tight angle.

On a tricky surface and up against a strong wind, Newhaven took the game to their hosts throughout the opening 25 minutes. Town’s goalkeeper, Chris Winterton did well to palm away a fierce Alfie Rogers strike, before the other Rogers, Bailie, had a header hacked off the line. Callum Edwards then had a goal-bound corner headed off the line.

Town grew into the game around the 25-minute mark and started to show flashes of threat.

In the 35^th minute, they had their first real opening when a ball from the right zipped across the area, narrowly avoiding their onrushing striker by a matter of inches.

The hosts then had the ball in the net from a corner, but the flag was up immediately, with the Town scorer clearly off-side.

Having been given a warning, the Dockers pressed for the goal their performance had deserved, only to find Winterton in fine form.

The lively Edwards went close when he danced into the area and, although he didn’t get the purchase on his shot that he would have wanted, his miss-hit effort almost deceived Winterton who had to readjust to make a fine save. From the rebound, a spot of penalty area pinball ensued, with Town doing just about enough to eventually clear the danger.

Right on half-time, Winterton once again was the host’s saviour, pulling off a brilliant save to claw away a deflected Ian Robinson effort that had looked destined for the top corner.

So while the teams headed into the interval goalless, Newhaven would have been buoyed by an impressive first-half up against the wind. The question was would they find it easier in the second-half with the wind at their backs?

No, was the initial answer.

Town started the second-half far better than they had started the first in an attacking sense, while really starting to frustrate the Dockers with a low-block that the visitors struggled to find a way through.

While Newhaven continued to see far more of the ball, it was Town who suddenly carried the more attacking threat.

Yet whereas Newhaven had been unable to make their chances count in the first-half, Eastbourne showed no such profligacy. With their first attempt on target, they took the lead as James Hull’s deflected effort trickled into the bottom corner past Jake Buss’ outstretched hand.

Newhaven needed to find a response. And fast. 

However, Town’s defence was looking well organised and the Dockers were struggling to find a way through.

Then, in the 63^rd minute, came a game-changing moment. From a corner the referee’s whistle sounded with almost everyone inside the Saffrons believing it was for a foul on Winterton. Not so. Newhaven had been awarded a penalty.

What for, nobody – including most of the Newhaven players – seemed to know.

With the benefit of Veo, I can now report that Tarun Rohilla was being grappled WWE-style by a Town defender. More than you’d see in a normal penalty area-tussle? Hard to say. Yet the ref – and his assistant – had spotted something that very few others had, and the Dockers were offered a route back into the game.

The outcome of the penalty was no surprise, with Newhaven’s talisman Alfie Rogers keeping his cool after a lengthy wait, before drilling the ball past Winterton.

For the next ten minutes or so, the game became increasingly scrappy with neither side looking particularly likely to grab a winner.

With ten minutes to go, Newhaven began to step it up again. Alfie Rogers’ fine lofted pass sent Edwards through on goal, but Winterton once again came to Town’s rescue with another great save.

What turned out to be the winning goal arrived six minutes from time. Not for the first time this season, it was players from the bench who would be instrumental in turning the game in Newhaven’s favour.

Ian Robinson’s clever switch of play found the recently introduced Harry Reed in space on the right. He brilliantly took on his marker using a combination of skill and strength before crossing into the middle. Fellow sub Luca Page flicked the ball on towards the back post, where Alfie Rogers arrived to head Newhaven ahead. Cue scenes of celebration for anyone of a Newhaven persuasion.

Town pushed for a late equaliser, but the Newhaven defence, marshalled by the absolutely superb Robbie Keith, held firm.

The final whistle brought with it a mixture of celebration and relief. This was three points we probably wouldn’t have gotten last season, when tight games tended to slip beyond our reach too many times.

No doubt there was a sizable slice of luck that went our way with the penalty – that’s impossible to argue against – but you still have to make those moments count… and we did… thankfully.

Reaching the summit has taken Newhaven 19 games – exactly half the league season. It’s been a hard slog so far. Staying there is going to be even harder, with a number of sides involved in a title race that will almost certainly go down to the wire.

One of those teams are our local rivals Peacehaven who, you may have heard, just so happen to be our next opponents.

The traditional Boxing Day game is sure to be an explosive encounter, with more riding on the three-points for both teams this year than has been the case for many a year.

Kick-off is at 11am – and what better way is there to work off a Christmas Day hangover (not for the players, hopefully) than to get along to Piddinghoe Avenue, get behind the lads and make your voices heard as they try and stay top of the league?

And to make your Christmas just a little happier this year, it’s also worth noting that our women’s side also go into Christmas sitting on top of their league. What a time to be a Docker! What a club!

Happy Christmas to you all. See you Boxing Day.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Robbie Keith. An outstanding defensive performance from the centre back. Won header after header – including one at the start of the second-half that almost certainly prevented a Town goal – and was always a composed, classy presence on the ball. All players can take credit, though, as there was not one below-par performance from any of them.