Bah humbug! A Christmas to forget for the Dockers

Newhaven 1 Peacehaven 3; Eastbourne United 4 Newhaven 1; SCFL matches #20 and #21

It was a festive period to forget for the Dockers, as they endured two bad defeats in the space of just over 48 hours.

First up on Boxing Day, the local derby brought with it a bumper crowd, with more than 740 people packing inside Fort Road. 

What it didn’t bring with it, though, was the three points that Newhaven fans have become so accustomed to in this fixture over the past few years.

It was an opening half-hour of few chances. Lee Robinson and Ryan Warwick (twice) sent efforts off target for the hosts – while a brilliant Billy Barker challenge thwarted a dangerous Peacehaven attack. Unfortunately, it also left Billy with a fractured tibia! Get well soon, Billy!

With the match low on quality, the opening goal came completely out of the blue; but it’s doubtful you’ll witness a better strike this season. A stunning Mo Kahdum effort from way outside the area, swerved in the air before nestling in the top corner, giving Jack Webb-Olley absolutely no chance.

Sometimes you just have to doff your cap to your opponent. This was one of those occasions.

On the stroke of half-time, Webb-Olley produced a decent stop to keep the score to one, but in fairness, Kahdum’s moment of brilliant aside there wasn’t much to separate the two sides. Neither team looked great.

The second-half, as you might expect, was more open, with Newhaven pushing to get back into the game and Peacehaven looking an increasing threat on the break.

It was the visitors who got the next goal, when in the 55^th minute a cross from the left was headed in at the back post by Kahdum for his second of the game.

Five minutes later, Jake Robinson forced Peacehaven’s keeper into his first save of the game, which pretty much sums up how the match was going from our perspective.

We only had to wait two minutes for our next shot on target, though, and this one ended up in the back of the net to reduce the arrears.

The returning from Uckfield Ryan Warwick beat the badly out-of-position visiting keeper to a bouncing ball and managed to get just enough purchase on his effort to poke it into the net from just outside the area. Game on.

Within three minutes, the Dockers really should have been level. Lee Robinson’s cut-back found Jake in space, but the elder Robinson brother elected to pass to Johnson Adesanya instead of shoot. Adesanya then decided to take a couple of touches instead of taking a first-time shot, and the Peacehaven defence was able to scramble the ball clear.

It was to be as good as it got for the home side, as with 17-minutes to go Peacehaven restored their two-goal lead. Kwabena Osei was dispossessed on the edge of the area, before Webb-Olley made a good save to dent the ensuing effort, only for the ball to fall straight at the feet of Josh Nandhra who couldn’t miss from close-range.

Newhaven pressed to get back into the game in the last 15-minutes, arguably enjoying their best spell of the match.

Bailie Rogers came within a whisker of setting up a tense finale when his header clipped the inside of the post, while Regan Clarke-Salter sent two efforts sailing over the bar, both of which he probably should have done better with.

In truth, though, it was too little, too late, with Peacehaven holding on for a rare – and fairly comfortable – Boxing Day victory.

Things didn’t get much better two days later – in fact they got a fair bit worse – with a trip to Eastbourne United’s impressive new facilities.

The Dockers looked off the pace from the get go, and could have already been a couple of goals behind before United eventually took the lead in the tenth minute.

Again the Dockers were the masters of their own downfall, giving the ball away on the halfway line and allowing United to break forward and score through Charlie Ball.

Newhaven survived a couple of further hairy moments as the half wore on, offering only sporadic moments of threat at the other end, but looked set to make it through to the interval just a goal behind, when on the stroke of half-time a deflected Gary Ingram effort looped over Webb-Olley and into the net.

An already uphill struggle suddenly became a fair bit steeper.

There was always a feeling that the next goal would be crucial, and despite a slightly improved second-half performance, it was the hosts who grabbed it; Alfie Headland heading home a cross from the left.

Lee Robinson went close to pulling one back with just under ten minutes to go, forcing James Broadbent into a save which he managed to push onto the bar, before Ryan Warwick did pull a goal back with two minutes remaining, having been teed up by Lee Robinson.

However, United restored their three-goal advantage within seconds. In fact, it was so soon after Newhaven scored that I was still sending my Tweet about Warwick’s goal, and didn’t actually see what happened. I am informed, though, that Mason Creese was the scorer and that Newhaven’s defence may not have covered themselves in glory during the build-up to it.

So, all in all, there’s been very little festive cheer at Fort Road this holiday season.

Still, with 2025 just around the corner, surely we can hope for better in the new year, right?

You can find out if we can start 2025 with a bang next Saturday, when play-off chasing Petersfield are our visitors. It would be great to see as many of you at Fort Road as possible, getting behind the boys and helping them to start the new year as we mean to go on. Winning.

Happy New Year!

Come On You Dockers.

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Peacehaven - Ryan Warwick; Eastbourne United – Lee Robinson.