Last gasp header rescues crucial point

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 began to take control.

In recent seasons, it would be fair to say that United have employed fairly negative tactics against us, often looking to break up play and using every trick in the book to stop the Dockers from finding their flow.

This accusation certainly couldn’t be levelled at the visitors in the opening 45 minutes yesterday, as they played some decent football, and caused the Dockers a number of problems.

While they weren’t exactly peppering shots at Jake Buss’ goal, they certainly looked the team more likely to break the deadlock. Newhaven just couldn’t get going.

The opening goal arrived just after the half-hour mark. Perhaps anticipating a long throw, Newhaven’s defence retreated deep into their penalty area. The ball instead went short, allowing a United player plenty of time and space to look up and find Callum Barlow who promptly headed the visitors into a deserved lead.

Now Newhaven aren’t exactly averse to going behind. It seems to happen most games. Worryingly, though, there was no immediate response to conceding yesterday. In fact, aside from an Alfie Rogers free-kick, which was struck well enough but straight down the keeper’s throat, they failed to muster any further attempts on goal before half-time.

A double substitution at the break saw Billy Barker and John Lucero replaced by Luke Donaldson and Max Vardy. For the second week running the interval also heralded a change in shape that immediately improved matters.

As with United in the first-half, it would be unjust to say that we were suddenly creating loads of opportunities, but it was certainly the Dockers who were now getting into the more dangerous positions.

However, ten minutes into the half, our chances of getting back into the game were handed a temporary blow. After Rob Malila was unnecessarily jostled by the United bench whilst retrieving the ball, the ref (the less said about whom the better) decided that only a stern word was needed. Quite unable to believe this, Ryan Warwick was then sin-binned for voicing his frustrations.

Down to ten for ten minutes. It was time to dig in and stay in the game.

That said, just a minute afterwards, Newhaven worked a decent opportunity following neat combination play from Donaldson and Bailie Rogers down the left, but Edwards couldn’t find the target from a difficult angle.

United then had the chance to probably put the game to bed, as they caught the hosts on the counter, but Buss stood tall and beat the shot away.

Shortly after, it was Newhaven’s turn to go close, as Alfie Rogers’ clever pass found Lee Robinson in space in the area, but for once Newhaven’s record goal-scorers touch let him down and the ball rolled harmlessly through to the United keeper.

With Warwick back on, United started to revert back to the team that we’ve gotten to know so well in the past few seasons. Slowing the game down, niggly fouls, basically anything that frustrates the opposition. This led to a couple of bookings for time-wasting but little more besides.

Still, their tactics seemed to be working perfectly. As the game moved into the final ten minutes, Newhaven were seeing plenty of the ball but finding it hard to create any sort of opportunities. From memory, the United keeper hadn’t had a save to make all half.

As the clock ticked past the 90-minute mark, Newhaven had well and truly thrown the dice, making a number of attacking substitutions in the hope that they could nick something.

It was a gamble that was to pay off. Three minutes into injury-time, Fin Agnihotri produced a brilliant cross from the right that was headed into the net by Lee Robinson from inside the six-yard box.

Now the question was whether they should stick or twist in the time that remained.

That answer was probably made for them a minute or so later when Max Vardy became the second Docker of the afternoon to be sin-binned. Again, it seemed harsh, with the defender kicking the ball away after a throw-in had been awarded despite the ball not even being close to going out of play. The same offence had merited a yellow card for a United player earlier in the game. Just be consistent!

Ultimately, in my opinion, this is probably a point gained rather than two lost, given that we were far from our best and hadn’t really looked like scoring prior to injury time.

It is, however, a result that has really opened up the title race. The top five are now separated by just nine points, and the teams in third, fourth and fifth all have at least one game in hand. I’ve said it before, and I’ll doubtless say it many more times over the coming weeks, this race is going down to the wire.

It’s a string of away matches now, with a couple of huge game coming up.

First off, we travel to Crawley Down Gatwick next Saturday for a match against a team from whom, this season, you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get, before we visit fellow title candidates Haywards Heath a week later (10^th February). On the same day, Crowborough play Steyning. It could be a pivotal weekend in the title race!

To finish this run of away games, we then face Steyning on Tuesday 13^th February in the Peter Bentley Cup.

A huge couple of weeks await us. We hope that as many of you as possible join us on our journey(ies).

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Callum Edwards. A constant threat, particularly when playing further forward in the second-half, with his direct running causing problems in the United defence.