#COYD - Come on You Dockers

Newhaven 5 Saltdean United 3, SCFL Premier Division Match #29 Newhaven welcomed local rivals Saltdean United to Fort Road yesterday afternoon, hoping to bounce back from last week’s horror-show against Eastbourne Town . On paper, struggling Saltdean should have provided the ideal opposition for Newhaven to get their season back-on-track. However, with a number of close connections between the two clubs – not least Tigers' manager Kieran Ridley who spent many years fulfilling various coaching and off-field rolls at Newhaven – there was always added potential for an upset. What’s more, while Newhaven were losing last weekend, Saltdean were picking up their first three-points in quite a while with a victory at Loxwood. If they could have picked the ideal time to travel to Fort Road then this would probably be it. With confidence no doubt still slightly frail after the Eastbourne match (it certainly was in the crowd), it was widely felt that a fast start was a necessity. Saltde...

Newhaven 0 Eastbourne Town 4, SCFL Premier Division match #28 Warning (for Newhaven players, managers and fans): This is not an upbeat read! I’ll be honest, it’s difficult to know where to start with this one. Anyone who was at Fort Road yesterday afternoon will have struggled to believe quite what they were seeing. It was a result – and performance – that not even the most pessimistic of Newhaven fans, or optimistic of Eastbourne Town fans, would have been expecting. In fairness, Town arrived at Fort Road in decent form, having won four consecutive league games, while they have lost only once in 90-minutesso far in 2024. Newhaven, of course, had only lost once in the league all season and, although they tasted defeat in the Peter Bentley Cup on Tuesday night, they probably could and should have been out-of-sight by half-time in that one, having missed a plethora of presentable opportunities. A plethora of presentable opportunities was something the Dockers could only dream abo...

Steyning 3 Newhaven 1, Peter Bentley Cup Quarter-Final It was never going to be easy. In fact, it could easily be argued that an away trip to Steyning was the hardest draw we could have got in our bid to defend the trophy we won back in May. Many people’s pre-season title favourites, Steyning have rediscovered their form in recent weeks following a slight blip back in November and December. Going into this match, they were on a run of six wins in a row and unbeaten in their last 12. The Shooting Field, though, was perhaps the venue of Newhaven’s best all-round performance this season, a brilliant 4-2 victory back in November . A reason to be hopeful? For much of the first-half last night it looked as though history was about to repeat itself. Playing with the wind at their backs, the Dockers were dominant for large swathes of the first-half, as Steyning struggled to get to grips with the visitors energy. That said, it was the Barrowmen who mustered the first shot on target ...

Crawley Down Gatwick 1 Newhaven 4, SCFL Premier Division Match #27 As the season starts to round the last bend before entering its final strait, there’s little doubt that every game, every potential three-points, starts to take on increasing importance. Room for error is getting narrower and narrower. A trip to Crawley Down Gatwick, last season’s runners-up, was always going to be a challenge. While The Anvils haven’t hit the heights from last campaign this time out, they have remained competitive, having won as many games as they’ve lost. Draws, however, are a rarity. They’ve had just one all season – and that against fellow title contenders Steyning. Yet while a tricky afternoon may have been in the offing, the Dockers couldn’t have got off to a much better start. After just two minutes, Luke Donaldson picked up the ball on the halfway line, drove forward and unleashed a brilliant shot from range that crashed in off the post. A real contender for our goal of the season, and o...