#COYD - Come on You Dockers

Midhurst and Easebourne 0 Newhaven 1, SCFL Premier Division match #5, Saturday 30 th August 2025 As the opening month of the season draws to a close, it’s fair to say that the first few games have gone as well anyone involved with Newhaven could have expected (or hoped). After an unlucky FA Cup exit at higher division South Park to start the month, the Dockers have successfully negotiated the opening round of the FA Vase and heading to Midhurst yesterday afternoon were still unbeaten in the league. With The Stags still without a win this season, hopes were high that the Dockers could extend their unbeaten start to the league season. However, Midhurst’s notorious slopy pitch has been one we’ve traditionally struggled to get to grips with in recent seasons, and with an inexperienced side, this was always going to be a trickier game then perhaps it appeared on paper. Indeed, it seemed to take both teams a while to get going with very little action taking place in either goalmouth i...

  Newhaven 3 AFC Varndeanians 0, SCFL Premier Division match #4, Tuesday 26 th August 2025 After three consecutive away games, Newhaven returned to Fort Road last night for a league match against AFC Varndeanians. Still unbeaten in the league, the Dockers were confident of extending their record against a side who came into the match having won one, drawn one and lost one of their first three league fixtures. This is a very different-looking Varndeanians side from last season, but perhaps the biggest change comes off the pitch where it appears the Brighton-based outfit have become the latest SCFL side to acquire a small, but loyal and noisy, band of ultras. Complete with drum, too. As with the Little Common ‘ultras’ last week, I can give nothing but credit to the young lads who kept singing (and banging their drum) for the entire duration of the match; even though events on the pitch weren’t necessarily unfolding in the way they would have desired. That this was the case...

AFC Walcountians 1 Newhaven 2, FA Vase First Qualifying Round, Sunday 24 th August 2025 Newhaven’s (second and more realistic) road to Wembley started with a coach trip to Surrey on Sunday to take on newly promoted SCFL Division 1 side AFC Walcountians. Playing at Step Six for the first time in their history, AFC Walcountians have adapted well to life at a higher level, having won two and drawn the other of their opening three games. This was their first ever appearance in the FA Vase, and the Dockers would have been fully aware that their opponents were going to be well and truly up for the occasion. Indeed, it was the hosts, who play at Cobham, who enjoyed the better of the early running, hassling and harrying the Dockers at every opportunity and not giving us a chance to settle. They created the game's first clear opportunity in the 15th minute when their striker latched on to an under-hit back pass, but stumbled as he was about to shoot, allowing Jonny Barnes-Galloway ...

Little Common 1 Newhaven 3, SCFL Premier Division Match #3, Tuesday 19 th August 2025 Another Tuesday evening away game saw Newhaven head east to face Little Common last night. With Newhaven’s young squad having picked up a creditable four points from their first two fixtures, it was hoped they could keep the positive start going against a team that pulled off a remarkable great escape last season to maintain their SCFL Premier Division status. Common have been slow out of the blocks once again this term, having entered this fixture still pointless. However, it was us who the hosts got their first win against last season (albeit in their 14 th game on that occasion) so they do have precedent for breaking their winless starts to the season against the Dockers. Indeed, it was the hosts who created the game’s first opportunity (in fact the only opportunity of any type in the opening 20-minutes) when Richmond Osei had to be alert to block behind what looked to be a certain goal o...

Crawley Down Gatwick 2 Newhaven 2, SCFL Premier Division match #2, Tuesday 12 th August 2025 As was the case last year, Newhaven’s first away match of the season was away to Crawley Down Gatwick on a Tuesday evening. And, just like 12-months ago, the Dockers travelled north having won their opening home league match by two goals to one, but having tasted defeat in the FA Cup. Although these matches had been played in a different order and the performance in the cup had been wildly different (for the better) this season. Early last August, we had been on the wrong end of a seven-goal thriller in this fixture, but the Newhaven faithful were hoping that this time around we could start the league campaign with two victories for the first time in what seems like forever. In the early stages last night there was little on show to hint that we’d be seeing seven goals on this occasion. The opening 20 minutes can be filed non-descript at best, with an early Lee Robinson header over the...

South Park Reigate 2 Newhaven 1, FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round, Saturday 2 nd August 2025 What a difference 12-months makes. This time last year, the Dockers went into the new season among the favourites for promotion having brought in a string of high-profile (for the level) names. Alas, for one reason or another, it was an experiment that went wrong quite quickly, and one that has prompted a complete rethink on how best to approach the new campaign. Fast forward a year, and we enter the 2025/26 season with rather less of an idea of quite what to expect. To describe the current squad as youthful is probably understating things. Aside from Lee Robinson and (the currently injured) Bailie Rogers, the next most senior member of the team in terms of experience is Ryan Blunt, at the age of just 20! Unusually, this season’s curtain raiser was an FA Cup match rather than the traditional league encounter, with the Dockers travelling to Surrey to take on higher division South Park R...