Dockers back to winning ways

Lancing 1 Newhaven 3, SCFL Premier Division match #14, Saturday 1^st November 2025

After a tough October which saw the Dockers play a host of league fixtures against teams who are likely to be vying for the play-offs, they started November with a trip to bottom-of-the-table Lancing.

However, while on paper this may looked a more straightforward assignment, the reality was very different.

Under new management, Lancing have shown clear signs of improvement in recent weeks, and went into the game on the back of a morale-boosting 5-2 victory over Shoreham.

The Dockers, on the other hand, had lost their past three matches, shipping 11 goals in the process.

Yet it was Newhaven who made the brighter start, hitting the front after just two minutes.

Harry Hammond intercepted a clearance, threaded the ball into the path of Ryan Blunt, and Blunty found the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Newhaven continued to be on the ascendancy for much of the early exchanges, continually getting themselves into dangerous areas, especially down the right where Teddy Wood was causing havoc, only to be unable to capitalise on their territorial dominance.

It was Blunt again who came closest to adding to the scoring, firing just wide after being found by Wood, before he had another shot deflected just wide.

Lancing had barely been in the game as an attacking threat, but that changed just before the half-hour mark, when Jonny Barnes-Galloway was forced to tip an Ore Allen effort over the crossbar.

Having failed to capitalise on their early dominance, the Lancer’s were starting to grow into the game and looking increasingly confident.

That said, their equaliser just under 10 minutes before the interval came as a surprise (to me anyway). Ellis Collier provided a confident finish to cap off a fine breakaway, after the Dockers had lost possession on the halfway line.

Twice in the closing stages of the half the Dockers had chances to regain the lead, as two Tom Howard-Bold free-kicks caused havoc in the Lancing box, only for no one to be able to force the ball over the line.

So it was all-square at the break, with many Newhaven fans wondering quite how we had managed to find ourselves in that position.

Within five minutes of the restart, it was Lancing who were wondering how they weren’t ahead.

With less that 20-seconds of the half played, a Mo Kheidji shot drifted just wide. Minutes later a free-kick (that may have been a cross) bounced off the face of the bar as Newhaven just about survived.

The Dockers needed to re-find their footing, and they were given a helping hand with this on the hour mark when Lee Robinson was judged (perhaps harshly looking at footage) to have been bundled over in the area.

Given Newhaven’s woeful record from the spot so far this season, it’s fair to say that the outcome of this situation was far from certain. In fact, the odds probably sided with Lancing surviving. Fortunately for us, Ezra Roeg stepped up to find the bottom corner with a drilled effort and Newhaven were back in front.

I’ve no idea what happened in the aftermath of the goal (I was tweeting, sorry x-ing, about it) but before play resumed, an unusually angry Robbo had been booked and Lancing were down to ten men courtesy of the sin-bin.

With Newhaven keen to keep hold of the lead, and Lancing not wanting to overcommit while they were a player down, the game entered a somewhat scruffy period from which it never really recovered.

Substitute Billy Oliver had a chance to make it three, when he spun neatly on the edge of the area, but could only fire his effort straight at the keeper, but aside from that, neither goalie had much to do.

With the game ticking steadily towards 90-minutes, Newhaven added the killer third. The Lancing keeper failed to deal with a cross, and Oliver reacted quickest to nod the ball into the back of the net.

Having fallen two behind, for the first time in the match Lancing began to go direct. In doing so they began to cause the Dockers defence more problems than they had done at any stage since the opening five minutes of the half.

Deep into injury time, they really should have got a goal back as they had us outnumbered, but no one seemed to want to shoot, Hammond got back to make a great tackle, and the subsequent shot flew high over the bar.

Overall, it was a deserved win for the Dockers over the 90-minutes, but Lancing certainly had their moments, and on this showing they will surely start to move up the table in the coming weeks.

We’re next back in action on Saturday, when Lingfield visit Fort Road. Currently fourth bottom, the Lingers had been on a run of three straight defeats, with just one win in seven, before, wouldn’t you just know it, they picked up three points on Saturday with an impressive 2-1 win over Bexhill!

This starts a run of four consecutive home games for us, with Pagham, National League South side Worthing, and Seaford all set to visit Fort Road over the coming weeks.

Let’s hope we’ve got a few more points in the bag come our next away game at Forest Row at the end of the month.

It would be great to see you there!

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Tom Howard-Bold. The midfielder’s experience was invaluable in getting Newhaven over the line. Constantly talking to his younger teammates and cajoling them into making the right decisions, he seems to be forming a decent understanding with fellow midfielders Shay Tobin and Ryan Blunt.