Late goal denies ten-man Dockers

AFC Varndeanians 2 Newhaven 2, SCFL Premier Division match #20, Saturday 13^th December 2025

Newhaven started the second-half of their league campaign with a visit to bottom-of-the-league AFC Varndeanians.

With the Dockers on a run of decent form, and the Vs… erm… not so much, hopes were understandably high that we could keep the run going.

However, if recent results are anything to go by, the Brighton-based side appear to have developed a bit of defensive solidarity in recent weeks; one that may have been lacking earlier in the season.

As you would probably expect, Newhaven settled into the game quicker and had a couple of early nearly moments. Firstly, a whipped Tom Howard-Bold free-kick was tipped unconvincingly wide by the V’s keeper, before a Corey Smart corner rolled right along the six-yard box without anyone being on hand to tap it in. Lee Robinson then went close with a flicked header that drifted wide.

In the 11^th minute, though, the V’s were probably unlucky not to be awarded a penalty, when former Docker Tommy Jupp looked to have been tripped after waltzing his way into the area. It certainly looked a decent shout from where I was sitting (which, admittedly, was about 100-yards away – this is the Withdean, after all) but the referee was unmoved.

Moments later, Jupp probably should have done better with an effort from the edge of the area which he dragged well wide.

Newhaven quickly re-assumed control – well, kind of control, at least – of proceedings, and Ryan Blunt saw an effort deflected wide after good hold-up play from Robinson. Almost a déjà vu moment from a week earlier there.

With 18-minutes on the clock, Newhaven finally made the breakthrough. After a rare period of actual football being played (not easy given the typical tricky winter non-league grass surface), the ball eventually broke to Robbo, who took a touch with his chest before firing the ball into the back of the net.

To be honest, for much of the rest of the half, not an awful lot happened. V’s seemed content to sit back and stay in the game, clearing their lines at all times; Newhaven not moving the ball quickly enough to cause the home defence any significant issues.

On the half-hour mark, Richmond Osei appeared to have been harshly booked (again, I was miles away so I could be wrong), and this was to have great significance later in the game.

With the match petering out to half-time, the V’s drew themselves level. Not for the first time this season, Newhaven switched off at a set-piece and were duly punished as Samuel Rogers reacted quickest to a loose-ball to make it all square at the interval.

A change of formation and personnel during half-time hoped to bring with it a change of fortune for the second-half. And the gameplan seemed to be working a treat when Newhaven retook the lead just eight minutes after the restart.

This time it was Vs who failed to deal with a set-piece, and Noah Hoffman was on hand to restore our advantage.

Yet, that gameplan was thrown out of the window just over five minutes later when Osei was shown a second-yellow card (absolutely to debate about this one) to leave Newhaven to see off the remaining 30-or-so minutes with ten men.

For a long-time, they held onto their lead comfortably enough. I can’t really remember either side registering a shot on target from the 60^th to 90^th minute. You certainly wouldn’t have known we were down a player from the flow of the game. It wasn’t like the hosts were battering at our door in search of an equaliser.

The best chance in this period went Newhaven’s way, when Robbo got through, only to appear to be clipped just as he was about to shoot. Once again, though, the ref saw nothing untoward and the appeals fell on death ears (also, once again, I was miles away, so have no definitive opinion on the incident).

Just as it looked as though Newhaven had done enough to seal a scrappy, but very important, three points, V’s scored a very late equaliser. Quelle surprise, a set-piece was the conduit to our problems, with Elliott Bresciani only able to slice his attempted clearance into the back of the net.

Having created vey little in the second-half, V’s then had a golden opportunity to snatch all three-points, when one of their players found himself in acres of space inside the area, but he could only shoot wastefully wide (very wide) when he should have done far better.

So Newhaven were forced to settle for a point against a battling V’s side, whose simple but effective style of football, and willingness to work hard, left their visitors frustrated for long periods.

Bizarrely, despite not being the result we were looking for, the point actually takes us up a place to third in the table, so every cloud… and all that.

Our last pre-Christmas fixture takes place on Saturday when Crawley Down visit Fort Road. It would be great to get a big crowd in for this one, and hopefully indulge in some festive cheer.

We then make the short trip to Piddinghoe Avenue on the 27^th December (no traditional Boxing Day fixture this year) for a local derby against Peacehaven. Given that Peacehaven currently trail us by just three points with a game in hand, this is a match with plenty on the line for both sides. Don’t miss it.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Ash Wadhams. Energetic throughout, Wadhams was a constant threat down the left side, and was

involved in most of Newhaven’s best attacking moments.