#COYD - Come on You Dockers

Newhaven 3 Crawley Down Gatwick 5, SCFL Premier Division match #25 After three back-to-back league victories to start 2025 (as a reminder, cup matches haven been expunged from memory) Newhaven welcomed Crawley Down Gatwick to Fort Road yesterday afternoon. Runners-up in the league just two seasons ago, Crawley Down are back in the play-off chase this time around, whilst also enjoying a decent FA Vase run which ended just a couple of weeks ago. Having lost at their place in a seven-goal thriller back in August, this was always likely to be a tough first home match in charge for interim manager’s Ryan Walton and Clive Blunt. And it certainly appeared that way after an opening ten minutes in which the visitors were wholly dominant and already a goal to the good. The Anvils were almost in on goal in the opening ten seconds, could have had a couple more by the second minute, and had it not been for a Jack Webb-Olley save five minutes later, would have been in front then. It seemed...

Saltdean United 1 Newhaven 2, SCFL Premier Division match #24 Newhaven made the short trip to Saltdean last night, aiming to make it three league wins from as many games in 2025. On paper, the Dockers should have been more than confident of claiming three more points against a Saltdean side who are struggling near the foot of the table. However, as regular watchers of Newhaven this season will be only too aware, the only guarantee with the Dockers at the moment is that there are no guarantees. See Little Common at home for proof of that. And with former Newhaven coaching stalwart Kieran Ridley at the Saltdean helm, you can always be sure that the Tigers will be extra fired-up for this encounter. On a bitterly cold evening, and with the match being played on a surface that you couldn’t exactly describe as a carpet (understatement alert), few of the spectators present would have been expecting to watch a footballing classic.   And they didn’t. This most certainly was not ...

AFC Varndeanians 1 Newhaven 2, SCFL Premier Division match #23 Saturday saw Newhaven head to the Withdean Stadium for their first league match under the interim stewardship of Ryan Walton and Clive Blunt (there may have been a cup match in midweek but we’ll conveniently gloss over that – hey, it’s my blog and I’ll write what I want to). In years gone by, the Dockers would have been more than confident about their chances of taking three-points against AFC Varndeanians. However, this is a far stronger Vs side than those of the past. Going into this match the Brighton-based team actually sat above us in the league table, and are on-course for their highest SCFL Premier Division finish. Indeed, it was the Vs who drew first blood. With eight-minutes on the clock, the Dockers had largely been on the front foot, albeit without creating much (anything) in the way of goalscoring opportunities. Then, from their real first foray into our half, a cross from the left was met by the head of S...

Newhaven 2 Petersfield Town 1, SCFL Premier Division match #22 Nothing lasts for ever. All good things must come to an end.... Use whatever cliché you want, they are all, unfortunately, true. As I’m sure every man and his dog already knows, after more than ten years and 508 games, Saturday's home match against Petersfield Town marked the final time Andy Cook and Sean Breach will be in charge of the Dockers men’s team (although Cooky continues in his role as the women’s team manager). The term legend is bandied about far too often these days. But there can be little doubt that both Breachy and Cooky are, and will forever be, club legends. Their role in transforming Newhaven from a team in the doldrums to one of the most consistent and best-supported teams in the county league cannot be ignored. And as could be witnessed by the many messages that came pouring in via our Twitter feeds in the wake of their resignation announcement (from those outside the club as well as within)...