#COYD - Come on You Dockers

Hassocks 5 Newhaven 1, SCFL Premier Division match #38 A place in the end-of-season play-offs may have already been secured, but the Dockers travelled to Hassocks yesterday knowing a win would not only secure them a runner’s up spot but also give them home advantage in the play-off semi-final (and potentially final). Yet the stakes were even bigger for Hassocks. A point would secure them their own place in Tuesday night’s semis, while a defeat would leave the Robins reliant (sorry, I couldn’t resist; I have to entertain myself somehow) on results elsewhere to confirm their participation. Yet if this season’s surprise package were feeling any weight of expectation, then it didn’t show. Right from the off, the hosts forced Newhaven onto the back foot, looking hungrier and working harder from the off. They could have been in-front inside three minutes were it not for a fingertip save from Paul Woods (in for the absent Jake Buss) that diverted the ball just wide. Not that they ...

Newhaven Ladies secured the London and South East Regional Division One South league title on Sunday following a 5-0 win at Bexhill. The dominant Dockers took their league record to an astonishing 20 wins from 21 games as they put the seal on a fantastic league campaign, that will see them promoted to the league above. Goals from Katie Franks, Charlotte Markham, Jamie Quinn and a Lucy Collinson brace gave Newhaven the win they needed to ensure that they can no longer be caught by closest challengers Bromley, regardless of what happens when the two teams meet on 1 st May. It has been a quite remarkable season for the Dockers, who have lost just once in the league, and have racked up a brilliant 76 goals in just 21 games, conceding just 14. The team has also kept 13 clean sheets from those 20 games, and haven’t conceded a league goal in their past five matches. Their only reverse came away at Herne Bay back in November, but this was to prove to be only a mere blip in a campaign in w...

Newhaven 0 Steyning 4, SCFL Premier Division Match #37 All the signs were there for a classic. First vs second in the penultimate game of the season. Both teams (mathematically speaking at least) still in with a chance of winning the title. Both sides boasting a win apiece from their two meetings earlier in the season ( Newhaven in the league ; Steyning in the Peter Bentley Cup ). A large crowd of just over 500 spectators (our second-highest gate of the season). Unfortunately, a classic encounter was far from what played out at Fort Road yesterday afternoon. Put simply, it was a walk in the park for Steyning who were by far the superior team over the 90 minutes and deservedly strolled their way to three points. It would be fair to say that, despite the fact that a win for Newhaven would have taken their title hopes to the last game of the season, the belief that this would give us a realistic shot of winning the title was slim. It’s almost unimaginable that Steyning won’t b...

Haywards Heath 0 Newhaven 1, SCFL Premier Division Match #36 The big games just keep on coming. Following a local derby victory on Easter Monday and a draw against fellow title rivals on Saturday , we travelled to Haywards Heath last night for yet another crucial match – for both teams. Newhaven knew that anything less than a win would all-but end their already slim title hopes, and also leave them looking nervously over their shoulder regarding securing a play-off spot. The top of the table really is that tight! Victory for the Dockers, though, would see them cement their place in the play-offs whilst leaving Haywards Heath’s own hopes of doing so hanging by a thread. An outcome that many will have deemed unthinkable at the start of the season for a club that only a couple of seasons ago were pushing for promotion to the Isthmian premier! On a run of six straight league victories, the momentum going into the game was very much with Heath, with Newhaven’s form having been dec...

Crowborough Athletic 1 Newhaven 1, SCFL Premier Division match #36 It was never going to be easy. Winning four consecutive games at the end of a gruelling season is challenge enough. Doing it when your remaining four games are against fellow title and play-off contenders, and with a squad stripped to the bare bones by varying high-profile absences, and the challenge becomes increasingly more difficult. Yesterday’s trip to Crowborough was a must-win game for both sides in order for either one to keep the title within their own destiny. There was plenty on the line and, for the most part, the match played out in the manner that many would have expected. Nervy with clear chances at a premium. The Crows settled quicker, looking to turn Newhaven’s makeshift back three at every available opportunity. However, despite a barrage of balls being pumped into the box, Jake Buss’ goal remained largely threat free. It was the Dockers who actually created the first notable opening of the ga...

Newhaven 1 Peacehaven & Telscombe 0, SCFL Premier Division match #34 And, so, in what seems like the blink of an eye, we enter the final month of the regular league season. Despite a couple of stumbles in our last two games, we arrive in April still with the destiny of the league title in our own hands (although it’s a claim that another couple of teams can also make). While it may be easy to type that sentence on a computer, reeling off the five wins needed is going to be a humungous challenge. It comes to something when, of our last five games, this morning’s derby game against Peacehaven is the fixture that, on paper at least, looked the easiest. However, cliché though it may be, football is not played on paper. While in terms of league position Peacehaven may be the lowest ranked of the teams still to come, it’s fair to say that our local rivals would have loved nothing more than to have severely hampered our league campaign for a second Easter running. In front of a ...