Dire Dockers soundly beaten

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 about having yesterday afternoon.

From the moment Town took the lead in the sixth-minute, there was a sense of inevitability about the result, as the disjointed Dockers never really looked like laying a glove on an impressive Eastbourne side.

As was so often the case during yesterday’s 90-minutes, the opening goal came from a careless mistake or two. After sloppily giving the ball away in midfield, a pass forward that probably should have been cut out wasn’t, leaving Robbie Keith isolated two-on-one.

Town’s Ollie Davies, though, didn’t need assistance, choosing to go it alone before finishing classily into the corner.

At this point there was no need to panic. Going a goal down is hardly new territory for Newhaven. It’s kind of what we do.

On this occasion, however, there was no response to the early blow. Time and time again possession was carelessly ceded to a Town side who looked hungrier and more energetic throughout.

Just before the half-hour mark, a long ball over the top easily dissected the Dockers defence sending Davies through on goal. Fortunately, though, this time the winger’s strike was off target.

Unfortunately, it was only to prove to be a brief reprieve.

Ten minutes later the Dockers were two-down and had lost influential centre-back Robbie Keith to a calf injury.

Just seconds after Jake Buss had prevented Harvey Greig from doubling the lead, Newhaven once again failed to clear their lines and Nathan Jenkins rifled home a deserved second for Eastbourne Town.

The Dockers didn’t manage their first shot on target until the 41^st minute. Even that, a Callum Edwards effort from just outside the area, was never troubling the keeper.

Surely things could only get better after the interval, right?

Well, for the opening two minutes of the second-half it appeared that the answer would probably be yes.

On 46 minutes, recent arrival Lewis Croal, making his first start in place of the injured Lee Robinson, forced Chris Winterton into his first meaningful save of the match. From the resulting corner, Rob Malila headed wide from close-range.

Two chances inside the first two minutes. This was more like it.

Alas, it didn’t last.

From that point on, the game reverted back to the pattern of the first-half with Newhaven just not at the races.

Buss was soon called into action again, before Town had the ball in the net for a third time, only to be ruled out for offside.

When Ryan Warwick was sin-binned after 56 minutes, an already improbable-looking comeback suddenly became increasingly more unlikely.

Eight minutes later it was very much game over. Leon Grieg probably couldn’t believe his luck as he waltzed unchallenged past a couple of Newhaven defenders before finding the corner with a good finish.

The Newhaven management team made subs and tactical tweaks in order to find a route back into the game. But nothing they tried worked. For some reason, everyone was having an off day.

When Town scored a fourth seven minutes from time, there could be few complaints that it accurately reflected what was occurring on the pitch. James Hull getting the fourth for the visitors.

And, just when it seemed like events at Fort Road couldn’t get any worse, they got worse. Seconds before the final whistle Alfie Rogers was shown a second yellow card for kicking the ball away in frustration. The fact that he fired the ball into the ref’s legs probably didn't help matters! He'll now miss next week's game.

If there was one silver lining to be taken from yesterday afternoon’s action, then it probably won’t come as a huge surprise to learn that it had nothing to do with what was happening at Fort Road. Results elsewhere mean that despite the defeat, we cling to top spot for the time being (although Crowborough can now overtake us if they win their game-in-hand, whereas they couldn’t before).

However, with us still having to visit Crowborough the destiny of the title remains in our hands for now. Win all our remaining games and we’re champions. Simple, huh.

A tough ask; maybe even an unlikely one. There’s going to be plenty of twists and turns to come, of that I’m certain. Yet the fact remains, we're still in an enviable position.

Let’s just hope yesterday serves as a wake-up call. Surely, we won’t – can’t possibly – play as badly as that again this season!

Hopefully, normality will resume next Saturday when Saltdean United are our visitors. Let’s get behind the boys and help them get back to winning ways. Your support is now needed more than ever!

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Erm, no. Sorry, can’t do one this week.