#COYD - Come on You Dockers

Newhaven 1 Eastbourne United 1, SCFL Premier Division match #26 The Dockers welcomed fellow promotion hopefuls Eastbourne United to Fort Road yesterday afternoon in what was always likely to be one of our toughest matches of the season. United haven’t lost in the league since we beat them way back in October and have actually lost the second fewest matches in the division this season (three; only we’ve lost fewer). Add to the mix the fact that they always make seem to make life difficult for us, regardless of league position and form, and it’s fair to say that few of a Newhaven persuasion would have been relishing the 90 minutes that lay ahead. It was the Dockers who created the game’s first two chances. In the fourth minute, Callum Edwards tested the Eastbourne keeper following a surging run down the left, before Alfie Rogers fired inches wide just five minutes later from outside the area. That was to be as good as it got for Newhaven in the first-half, though, as United soon...

Newhaven 0 Worthing 4, Sussex Women’s Challenge Cup semi-final Yesterday afternoon, Newhaven Ladies faced what was arguably their toughest test in what has so far been quite a remarkable season. In addition to having won 14 of their opening 15 league matches, to lead the London & South East Regional Women's Division One South by 14 points, the ladies have also reached the Quarter-final of the League Trophy and, more impressively, the semi-final of the Sussex Women’s Challenge Cup. Standing in the way of them reaching the final of that particular competition was a very strong Worthing side. Two divisions higher and pushing for promotion to the National League South Premier Division (they currently sit second behind AFC Wimbledon), Worthing went into the game as overwhelming favourites. Already battling the odds, Newhaven’s chances of causing a monumental upset weren’t helped during the warm-up, when goalkeeper Annie Hills pulled up injured with a groin problem, meaning...

Newhaven 6 AFC Uckfield 1, SCFL Premier Division match #25 With the winter weather once again taking its toll on the SCFL Premier Division fixture list, Newhaven went into their match against Uckfield knowing that a win would see them open up a four-point gap at the top of the table. Yes, Crowborough still have two games in hand, but the chance to get points on the board, and perhaps put some increased pressure on those said games in hand, was an opportunity that simply had to be taken. With Uckfield near the foot of the table, and winless in the league since August, surely there was only one way this game was going to go. Indeed, it did go the way that most will have expected, but for long periods of the first-half the outcome was far from a formality. As has been the case on a number of occasions this season, the Dockers took a while to get going and it was the visitors who created the first real chance of the match. Zac Bignell cut inside from the right, but could only cur...

Newhaven 1 Crowborough Athletic 1, SCFL Premier Division match #24 While it’s still far too early in the season to start bandying around phrases like ‘title decider’, last night’s clash between the SCFL Premier Division’s top two at least gave the division’s front-runners a chance to strike an early blow as the season rapidly moves towards its closing months. Since the controversial abandonment between these two teams back in early December (Newhaven were leading 1-0 with ten-minutes remaining when the officials decided they were no longer able to see through thick fog), the Dockers have picked up 15 points from a possible 18, meaning they went into this match a point clear at the top – albeit Crowborough still have a game in hand. For both teams the mantra going into the game would likely have been very similar. If you can’t win, then don’t lose. For much of the first-half, it would be fair to say that both teams took these instructions to the nth degree, with entertainment very...

Little Common 2 Newhaven 5, SCFL Premier Division match #23 After last week’s disappointing draw at Shoreham  (which featured an unfortunate season-ending injury to Ian Robinson), the Docker’s headed east to Little Common yesterday searching for three-points to get their title bid back on track. Having played the hosts twice before this season – both times at home; once in the FA Cup and once in the league (there was a late equaliser in that game which you might have heard about) the two teams are no strangers to each other. Odd then, that with less than three minutes on the watch, Common presented Cal Edwards – scorer of a hat-trick in the aforementioned FA Cup meeting – with the ball just outside the area; then allowed him plenty of time and space to get his shot away.  Take nothing away from the finish, which was sublime, but I doubt Cal could quite believe his luck as he duly gave the Dockers a dream start. However, those of us hoping that this early goal would gi...

Shoreham 1 Newhaven 1, SCFL Premier Division Match #22 Newhaven’s first game of the New Year saw them travel west to a lowly, but improving, Shoreham side. It’s fair to say this is a very different outfit from the one we brushed aside quite comfortably at home earlier in the season. Following a week of heavy rain (again), it was touch-and-go just a couple of days ago as to whether the game would go ahead with parts of Shoreham’s Middle Road pitch underwater. It does much credit to the volunteers at the club that they were able to remove the water and get the pitch playable enough to get the match on. Of course, the flip side of that coin is that it left behind the type of bobbly, boggy surface that has so often proved to be the Docker’s kryptonite over the past few seasons. Those pristine 3G pitches just don't quite prepare you for a grass pitch in the middle of a wet British winter. The pattern of the match was established very early on. Shoreham were content to let Newha...