Former player ends Dockers run

Bexhill United 2 Newhaven 1, SCFL Premier Division Match #19

Following last Saturday’s postponement at Horsham YMCA, Newhaven travelled east to Bexhill yesterday afternoon, looking to extend their winning run to five.

Bexhill United, though, are themselves one of the division’s form teams, coming into the match with just one defeat in their last 11 games.

On a bobbly uneven surface, this was never likely to be a game for the purists and after a dull opening 15 minutes, during which neither keeper was tested (or even cam close to being tested), a long dreary 90-minutes looked to be on the cards.

Then, out of nowhere, the hosts took the lead.

The Dockers carelessly gave possession away from their own throw-in, and one ball over the top found Jack Shonk – who, of course, had started the season at Newhaven, before returning to Bexhill – in acres of space. Shonk kept his composure to fire the Pirates in-front with the game’s very first attempt.

It was a blow for Newhaven, but one they actually recovered quite well from.

Ryan Blunt had half a chance to respond soon after, dancing his way into the area, only to seem to get caught in two minds between going for goal or crossing and ending up doing neither one or the other.

Jake Robinson then found himself bearing down on goal, only to try and cross for brother Lee when shooting may have been the wiser option. From the resulting corner, however, the Dockers did draw level.

United could only half clear the set-piece and Johnson Adesanya controlled the ball before unleashing a shot from range on his left foot, which somehow squirmed under the Bexhill keeper’s body.

With the scores level, Newhaven spent much of the rest of half looking the team more likely to score, albeit without ever really threatening to do so.

Lee and Jake Robinson both had shots charged down during the same goalmouth scramble, before a miss-hit cross from Lee almost looped over the Pirates' keeper on the stroke of half-time, but in truth chances for both teams were at a premium.

While I’m sure Newhaven will have been fairly satisfied with their first-half performance, the same can’t be said of the second.

The Pirates were almost back in front within minutes of the restart, twice hitting the post within the space of about ten seconds.

From that moment on, the Dockers failed to get going, as the Pirates started to take control of the match.

While the hosts weren’t exactly peppering the Newhaven goal, they certainly carried by far the greater attacking intent and threat.

The Dockers weren’t at any stage hanging on, but at the same time they never looked particularly comfortable, either.

What turned out to be the winning goal arrived 25-minutes from time. A Dan Rogers header hit the post before rolling across the line for Shonk to, possibly, bundle the ball over the line (it may have already crossed it – it’s impossible to tell from the Veo footage I’ve seen).

This time, there was no instant response from the Dockers.

In fact, it took Newhaven until the 80^th minute to fashion their first chance of the half. Callum Edwards jinked his way into a dangerous area, but his low shot was well turned round the post by the Bexhill keeper.

This effort did seem to wake the Dockers up, and they certainly showed more intent in the last ten minutes – the introduction of Harry Reed adding some much-needed thrust to Newhaven going forward.

However, while they certainly started to see far more of the ball in Bexhill’s defensive third, the Pirates were looking for the most part comfortable.

They probably should have made the game safe with time almost up, when they broke through with numbers only to squander a great attacking opportunity. Up the other end, youngster Dexter Lambert had a late effort for the Dockers that he couldn’t guide on target from outside the area.

Come full-time, it was hard to argue that Bexhill were worthy winners, especially on the balance of the second-half, but the Dockers will be disappointed that they couldn’t follow-up on what had been a promising first-half with a slightly more cohesive second-half display.

Hopefully, though, this will prove to be nothing more than a blip as we look to enjoy a far more productive second-half to the season (the first certainly hasn’t quite gone to plan). With more players due to be returning from injuries in the new year, and hopefully another couple of key new signings on the way (fingers crossed) there’s no reason we can’t put a run of results together in a bid to try and propel ourselves up the table.

With two local-derbies coming-up, this really would be an ideal time to fully turn the corner.

First we visit struggling Saltdean next Saturday, before the big Boxing Day morning match at home to Peacehaven (whose own form, like ours, has been mixed over the last couple of months).

Six points from these two festive fixtures would be warmly welcomed.

We hope to see you at both matches.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Billy Barker. Tough one this week, as no one was particularly outstanding, but Barker looked solid on his first start after injury.