Dockers off to a winning start

Newhaven 2 AFC Varndeanians 1, SCFL Premier Division match #1

In what feels like a blink of any eye, football is back.

Proper football, at any rate. Real football. The type that hasn’t yet tried to shaft its fans by becoming ridiculously overpriced and stupendously unaffordable.

For the first time in forever (well, six seasons) Newhaven were handed a home tie on the opening day of the campaign, with AFC Varndeanians the visitors to what we hope will once again become fortress Fort Road over the coming nine months.

After a decent pre-season which saw six wins from six games and, more importantly, didn’t see practically the entire spine of the team leave (although Rob Malila and Alfie Rogers were both noticeable departees), hopes were high that the Dockers could start the season with a win. An occurrence that has become as rare as a home match in the opening game of the season in recent years.

The starting XI on this warm July Saturday afternoon heralded five new faces – Ash Wadhams, Joe Summerbell, Koby Farrell, Tom Vickers and Jack Shonk – while there were three newcomers on the bench, too – Charlie Curran, Mufaro Huchu and some bloke called Jake Robinson who I’m pretty sure is best known in footballing circles for being the elder brother of Lee and Ian.

The opening exchanges won’t live long in the memory. In fact, it comes to something when the most noticeable moment in the opening 20 minutes came with the arrival of the nearby ferry.

AFC Varndeanians looked more than happy to get men behind the ball and play on the counter wherever possible. Newhaven seemed content to keep possession and patiently wait for openings to arrive. A classic encounter this did not make for.

The only chance in the first half-hour came from Cal Edwards who shot high and wide from a tight angle.

The opening goal arrived completely unexpectedly on the half-hour mark. And, it must be said, was an absolute gift. The V’s GK spilled what looked to be a routine catch and goalscorer extraordinaire Lee Robinson could not believe his luck as he tapped home from a couple of yards out. I strongly doubt he’ll get an easier goal all season.

The visitors responded well, though, and twice went close to an equaliser in the space of a minute. First, Jake Buss pushed a swirling wind-assisted effort around the post, before a cross into the box narrowly evaded a Varndeanian’s attacker by inches at the far post.

With the game seemingly meandering towards half-time, the game eventually sparked into life five minutes before the break when Newhaven were reduced to ten-men. There was more than an element of controversy surrounding the decision, as Ryan Blunt appeared to win the ball cleanly before catching a V’s player. However, deeming the challenge to have been made with excessive force, the ref – who was, shall we say, somewhat inconsistent all afternoon (for both sides) – showed the Docker’s midfielder a straight red.

It's the second consecutive season in which Newhaven have been on the wrong end of dubious sending off on the opening day, with Bailie Rogers suffering the same fate around this time last year. 

While Newhaven managed to reach half-time ahead comfortably enough (in fact Edwards had a chance to double the lead right on the whistle) there was a feeling that with only a narrow lead, and Varndeanians looking a lot more coherent team than they had last season, a long 45 minutes awaited.

The Newhaven management responded by bringing on Jake Robinson for Shonk at half-time and, despite playing with a man less, it was the hosts who came out after the restart carrying the greater threat. Within a minute, Edwards again went close with a right-footed effort that bounced off the post.

Six minutes into the second-half, V’s were also reduced to ten-men. Ross Smith picking up a second booking for a lunging tackle on Lee Robinson (he could have easily gone in the first-half when the ref decided not to show a second yellow for a foul that had appeared more cynical than the initial challenge he had been booked for).

Newhaven then missed a few decent opportunities to double their advantage. Lee Robinson was denied by a smothered save following good build-up play from Edwards and Jake Robinson, before Jake failed to generate enough power on his shot to seriously test the keeper after being set-up by his brother.

At the other end, Varndeanians went close, only to be denied by a great Buss save as Newhaven were almost caught on the break.

On the hour-mark, Jake Robinson missed a really good chance to net a debut goal when he could only head over from inside the six-yard box.     

With the game still very much in the balance, the Dockers gave themselves some breathing space with 20 minutes remaining, scoring a goal of real quality in what had been a mostly industrious display.

Tom Vickers’ brilliant raking cross-field ball was met with a glorious first-time cushioned pass by Jake Robinson right into the path of Lee, who lashed home his second of the game/season. One gets the feeling it won’t be the last time those two link up for a goal this season.

In fairness to Varndeanians, though, they never looked completely out of the game. Ash Wadhams had to produce an outstanding last-ditch tackle to deny the visitors what would surely have been a certain goal with 15-minutes remaining.

Lee Robinson then went close to grabbing an opening day hat-trick, but could only shoot narrowly wide across goal from a tight angle.

With the game looking fairly safe, Newhaven made a few changes and were promptly pegged back as V’s reduced the arrears with the game just entering injury time. Buss was beaten by a fantastic strike from outside the area; although questions may be asked about how much time the scorer had to get his strike away.

Thankfully, the Dockers saw out what could have been a potentially tricky last few minutes with a minimum of fuss to get off to a winning start for the first time in quite a while.

True, this is unlikely to be the best performance we’ll see at Fort Road this season, but after a trend of opening day profligacy in recent years, a fast start was what will have been asked for and the boys delivered with three important points.

Next weekend, we head to Horsham YMCA for an FA Cup Extra Preliminary match (yes, already), before on Tuesday 6^th August we visit Crawley Down Gatwick in the league.

We’re back at Fort Road on 10^th August when we play host to Horsham YMCA (yep, them again) for another league match.

We hope to see you all then.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Lee Robinson. Two goals for Newhaven’s all-time leading goalscorer to go alongside a decent overall performance. The middle Robinson brother looked sharp throughout and looks to have really benefitted from a full pre-season having missed out on one last time out.

After the match, a newly shorn Reuben met up with Jake Robinson to find out how happy ‘Big Robbo’ is to be back playing.