#COYD - Come on You Dockers

Newhaven 3 Forest Row 0, SCFL Premier Division match #33, Saturday 28 th March 2026 After a ten-day break, Newhaven began a run of four games in nine days with a home league fixture against Forest Row on Saturday. It was a match that gave the Dockers a chance to finally put to bed the win-a-game/lose-a-game sequence that has plagued them for much of 2026. Having beaten Lingfield last time out, Newhaven would have been confident of gaining three-points against a Row side who we had already beaten twice this season, and who have tasted victory just once in any competition since the turn of the year. However, both teams looked equally nervous in an error-strewn opening ten-minutes in which the ball was repeatedly given away needlessly. Newhaven created the first half-chance of the match, when Ryan Blunt’s inviting low free-kick found Lee Robinson in space, but the striker couldn’t get enough purchase on the ball to guide it goalwards. Seconds later, Row had what would probably ...

Lingfield 2 Newhaven 5, SCFL Premier Division match #32, Wednesday 18 th March 2026 A midweek trip to Lingfield (well, Whyteleafe) gave Newhaven the opportunity to bounce quickly back from Saturday’s defeat at Pagham. As highlighted in that report, it has been a while since we last won two league games on the trot. The flip-side to that, though, is that it has also been quite a while since we last lost two consecutively. In fact, it hasn’t happened since the end of October when we lost back-to-back games against Steyning and Eastbourne United. While Lingfield may currently be embroiled in a relegation scrap, a recent upturn in form has given them a little breathing space in the dogfight at the foot of the table and led to them being awarded the SNLF Podcast’s team of the month for February. This had all the ingredients of being a tricky Wednesday night encounter. Yet it didn’t turn out that way. Not really. The Dockers made the perfect start to the game, opening the scoring ...

Pagham 2 Newhaven 1, SCFL Premier Division match #31, Saturday 14 th March 2026 DWLWLWLW.  No, its not the name of a small Welsh village (at least, I don’t think it is. It could be. I haven’t actually checked). It’s Newhaven’s league form since the start of 2026. A run of inconsistency that has all but ended our play-off hopes after a stronger than expected first half of the season. We made the long trip to Pagham on Saturday afternoon, hoping we could make it back-to-back league victories for the first time in 2026. Unfortunately, our wait for consecutive victories will have to continue for a while longer, as this match perfectly encapsulated in microcosm the inconsistency that has hampered us over the last few months. After a sluggish opening five minutes, in which Pagham went close to scoring only for Rudi Jones to clear off the line, the Dockers took the lead from practically their first attack when we were awarded a penalty for handball after good work from Teddy Wood d...

  Newhaven 3 Lancing 0, SCFL Premier Division match #30, Saturday 28th February 2026 It says much about the Docker’s current form that since the turn of the year (cup-games aside) we haven’t yet managed to win back-to-back games. The flip-side of that, though, is that we haven’t lost two on the spin either. So having lost last weekend, we were due a win this weekend, right? (Or a draw at the very least). With bottom-placed Lancing the visitors to Fort Road, confidence was high that we’d once again be able to bounce back from defeat last weekend. However, many of the Fort Road faithful who have followed Newhaven for a few seasons or more will have been only too aware that we’re not adverse to slipping on the odd banana skin when it comes to facing struggling teams. Nothing would be taken for granted. Having failed to score in their past four matches, Lancing have signed a few new players in recent weeks to try and assist in their struggles in front of goal. After 20 minu...