Dockers edged out in game of few chances

Newhaven 1 Eastbourne United 2, SCFL Premier Division match #29, Saturday 21^st February 2026

Consistency has been a bit of an issue for the Dockers this season.

Throughout the campaign, good performances have been interspersed with some not so good ones; brilliant performances with atrocious ones.

It’s to be expected given the youthful nature of the current Newhaven squad, although it doesn’t make it any less frustrating… for players, managers and fans alike.

Having been really good at Bexhill a week ago – the final scoreline certainly didn’t reflect our dominance (particularly in the first-half) – we welcomed a bang in-form Eastbourne United to Fort Road on Saturday. 

United are a team we’ve struggled for results against in recent seasons, and with them on a run of 10 points from their last four games (with 19 goals scored) we knew we’d need to have one of our very good weeks to get something from this game.

Perhaps had Eastbourne United’s debutant keeper not brilliantly kept out a fine acrobatic Ryan Blunt effort inside the opening ten minutes, the outcome of this game would have been different?

Who knows? There’s simply no way of saying for sure.

But in a game of very few clear-cut chances, this always had the feel of a match in which the opening goal would be important.

United’s first real chance arrived in the 15^th minute, with a shot that curled just wide of the far post.

Soon after, Ezra Roeg had a half-chance for us that he pulled well wide of the target.

Within moments, it was United who got the crucial first goal.

Joe Overy got in a little too easily down the left, before squeezing the ball through the legs of Jonny Barnes-Galloway from a tight angle to open the scoring.

The goal didn’t particularly alter the game’s flow. Both teams looked tidy enough in possession without either looking overly threatening in attack.

Blunt went close with a shot just over after he’d been allowed to stride forward, while Barnes-Galloway did well to push a low effort past the post.

That aside, there was very little to write home about.

A change to our usual shape had certainly succeeded in making us harder to break down, but the flip-side of that was that we were struggling to create many chances.

A change of personnel at half-time hoped to bring some increased cutting edge to our play.

Charlie Gibson, who was introduced at the break along with Teddy Wood, looked lively and had a couple of chances that just missed the target. The problem, though, was that most of our chances were still coming courtesy of shots from outside the area. Eastbourne United’s well-drilled defence was succeeding in keeping us at arm’s length.

With 20 minutes remaining, the visitors scored what would turn out to be the winning goal.

A low cross into the area was pushed away by Barnes-Galloway, but Mason Creese reacted quickest to the loose ball to fire into an unguarded net.

The Dockers continued to push for a way back into the game, yet despite dominating territory for a large portion of the final 20-minutes, chances remained at a premium.

Deep into injury time, we did reduce the arrears when a cross from the right found its way to substitute Dexter Lambert at the far post, and he made what was a difficult finish look decidedly easy with a well-controlled half volley.

Ultimately, though, the goal came too late to really cause the visitors any undue problems. Had it arrived a few minutes earlier, then maybe their nerves would have jangled and we might have rescued a point from the game. Again, we’ll never know.

With just nine league games to go, and a play-off charge now looking unlikely, it’s all about finishing the season as strongly as possible and setting ourselves up for next season. If we can keep the current crop together, and maybe bring in a couple more experienced heads, then there could be some very exciting times to come at Fort Road. The talent is there; there’s no about that. What’s missing at the moment is experience and, with that, consistency.

We’re back at Fort Road next weekend when we host struggling Lancing. We then have two lengthy away trips in a row with a visit to Pagham (14^th March) and a midweek trip to Lingfield (18^th March).

Another date for your diary is 31^st March, when the rescheduled Peter Bentley semi-final match against Steyning takes place. I’m assuming this will be played at Shoreham, but we will confirm nearer the time.

Your support at all games is always appreciated.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Ryan Blunt. Although not vintage Blunt, he looked the man most likely to create something for us; especially during the second-half when we managed to get him on the ball more.