Five in five for rampant Dockers

Newhaven 3 Wick 1, SCFL Premier Division match #32

Newhaven welcomed Wick to Fort Road on Saturday afternoon, Non-League Day, hoping to extend their winning streak to a season’s best five games.

Wick, though, came into the match on a decent run of form of their own, having won four on the trot before that run was halted by Peacehaven last weekend.

Newhaven bossed much of the opening stages of this one, without creating too much in ways of opportunities. Wick looked happy to absorb the pressure and hit on the counter with the Dockers not having to do all that much defending early on.

The hosts took the lead just before the 20-minute mark. Despite Wick’s player’s vocal appeals for an offside (they vocally appealed for most things to be fair, but on this rare occasion they probably had a point), Lee Robinson casually gathered a clever flick from elder brother Jake, before despatching the ball into the corner. No off-side flag was raised, much to the visiting team’s annoyance and the home side’s delight (and surprise).

Having got ahead, Newhaven looked to swiftly double their lead, only to find Wick keeper Keelan Belcher in fine form. 

Twice in the next ten minutes he denied Emmanuel Abudiore with decent stops to keep his side in the game. Belcher saves were to become a recurring theme throughout the afternoon, and one has to wonder without the Wick keeper in such good form, how many goals Newhaven would have racked up by full-time.

Having spent the opening 35 minutes looking in total control, in true Newhaven fashion we somehow let the visitors back into the game from their first notable attack.

A well worked move down the left culminated with the ball being crossed into the six-yard box, where Josh Irish was waiting to nod home the equaliser.

The Dockers almost regained the lead within seconds, only for Belcher to tip Lee Robinson’s header over the bar.

With half-time approaching, Jonny Barnes-Galloway was forced into his first notable save of the afternoon as Wick went close to taking what would have been a shock lead into the interval.

A Wick player then somehow survived any punishment for twice stamping on Henry Watson off the ball (even though the ref was staring straight at the incident). Strange one.

The opening 15 minutes of the second-half were probably as good as anything I’ve seen from the Dockers this season, as they laid siege to the Wick goal.

If I was to list all the chances we created (and missed) during this period, then this would without doubt go on to become the longest report I’ve ever written. Ryan Blunt, Alfie Rogers, Lee Robinson (twice), and Abudiore were among those to go close in the early moments of the second-half; but that’s only to name a few. Were it not for the inspired Belcher the game would have been done and dusted with half-an-hour still to play.

Madly, having survived the onslaught, Wick were then within an inch of grabbing the lead themselves. Having found themselves in Newhaven’s half for practically the first time in the second period, they actually managed to get through one-on-one, only for their player to hit the post when he probably should have scored.

It was a huge let-off for the Dockers, but normal service was soon resumed. Within 30-seconds of Wick striking the post, Alfie Rogers had yet another effort saved by Belcher. Bailie Rogers then shot inches wide from the edge of the area, before the recently introduced Ryan Warwick forced another good save from Belcher. 

In between these chances, Newhaven were denied a penalty for what looked like a certain handball, only for the ref to somehow fail to spot it… again.

With 20 minutes to go, it was starting to look like being one of those days. Fortunately, it wasn’t.

In the 71^st minute, two of Newhaven’s star performers on the day combined to get the goal that was starting to look elusive. Ian Robinson burst down the right, and his low drilled ball was cleverly turned into the corner first-time by Blunt, who is making a habit of scoring important goals this season.

Barnes-Galloway then had to be alert to push away a brilliantly-struck volley from outside the area as Wick tried to get themselves back into the game for a second time.

In truth, though, it was still Newhaven who looked more likely to nab another goal. Once again we were denied what looked to be a stonewall penalty as Abudiore was tugged down in the area, while Alfie was twice off target with half-chances.

With the game deep into injury-time, Wick did manage to fashion one more decent chance, only for the ball to be screwed wide from a dangerous position, before Newhaven finally put the game to bed.

It was a Robinson-to-Robinson combination again. This time Lee was the provider and Jake the recipient, emphatically smashing the ball off the post from by the penalty spot. Bizarrely, despite the many opportunities we created during the match, this was one of the only ones to fall to Jake.

So it is five-in-five for the resurgent Dockers. It’s amazing what difference having most of our best players available makes, hey!

The next three Saturday’s bring with them lengthy away trips. Little Common are up first. Having looked dead and buried a month ago, a run of 10 points from their last 15 have propelled the Commoners outside of the relegation zone for the first time in forever. We then travel to another team currently winning their battle against relegation, Loxwood, before visiting mid-table Midhurst and Easebourne.

We’re not back at Fort Road until the 19^th April, when play-off chasing Roffey are our visitors.

Despite the lengthy mileage of the coming weeks, we hope to see you at as many of these games as possible. Your support is always appreciated.

Come On You Dockers.

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Ian Robinson. Easily his best game since returning from injury. The youngest Robinson brother was a livewire down the right flank, defending diligently and a constant threat going forward, chipping in with an assist for Blunt, who ran him close for this award.