Late drama brings derby delight

Seaford 1 Newhaven 2, SCFL Premier Division match #34, Friday 3^rd April 2026

The first of two Easter Bank Holiday derby’s took place on Good Friday evening, as the Dockers visited Seaford looking to extend their run of consecutive league victories to three.

This was the fourth meeting between the two local rivals this season, with Newhaven twice getting the better of Seaford in cup competitions, but Seaford gaining a measure of revenge by taking all three-points in the reverse league fixture at Fort Road back in November.

On that occasion Seaford executed their gameplan to perfection, coming back from a goal down to take a thoroughly deserved three-points against a visibly frustrated Newhaven side.

No doubt the Dockers would have been expecting an equally tricky encounter this time around.

And that’s exactly what they got.

On a very blustery evening which made The Crouch’s already notoriously testing surface even more so, both sides struggled to get a foothold in the game, with the ball spending plenty of time swirling about in the aforementioned wind.

Newhaven had an early shout for a penalty probably correctly waved away when Lee Robinson’s boot was inadvertently trodden on in the area, before a well-struck Tom Howard-Bold free-kick brought the first save of the night from the Seaford keeper.

Seaford also had a shot in the early exchanges which went straight at Jonny Barnes-Galloway, but the fact is there was little for anyone in the 300+ crowd to get overly excited about.

As the half wore on, though, it was the Dockers, playing against the wind, who looked the team more likely to score. Robbo headed an Ezra Roeg cross over, before Ryan Blunt’s teasing cross flashed across the area with no one able to apply a finishing touch.

Roeg then had a shot defected over the bar, but come the interval, neither goalkeeper had found themselves overly exerted in what was a rather low-key first-half.

As it turned out, all the drama was merely being saved for an absorbing second-half.

Just six minutes after the restart, Seaford took the lead from the penalty spot when Elliot Bresciani was adjudged to have barged down a Seaford attacker. It looked harsh from where I was (which admittedly was up the other end – and, of course, I’m biased) but from 12-yards Josh Wright made no mistake to put the hosts in front.

Newhaven’s responded almost instantantly as Blunt was denied by a good save at the near post, before careering rather heavily into the upright. Thankfully he was fine to continue.

With the hour-mark approaching, Newhaven introduced Teddy Wood from the bench, and with his first touch he thought he’d equalised with a header (it’s what he’s known for!) only to be denied by the assistant’s flag.

No matter, Newhaven were level a minute later. Seaford failed to clear a Howard-Bold free-kick, and Charlie Gibson struck a brilliant half-volley into the corner to make it one-a-piece.

The goal really seemed to hand the Dockers the initiative. During the next 15 minutes, Blunt, Roeg and Gibson all went close, before, with a quarter-of-an-hour of normal time remaining, Roeg seemed to take the ball off of Robbo just as the striker seemed certain to score.

Perhaps sensing a point was the best they could hope for, Seaford began to seize every opportunity to eat up a bit of time here and there (especially the keeper).

Eventually this would come back to haunt the hosts.

Having seemingly ridden the storm, with the game meandering towards a draw, the Seaford keeper decided to kick away a ball thrown to him by the kids behind the goal before somewhat bizarrely claiming they’d thrown it away. They hadn’t, as the Veo attests to. And if he really was genuinely trying to control it, then I can only say that some extra training is very much in order.

The upshot was that the keeper was rightly booked. That should have been that. Except it wasn’t. From this point on the game descended into farce (albeit a farce that was to have a happy ending for us). A Seaford outfield player was swiftly sin-binned, I’m assuming for complaining about the keeper’s booking, before representatives from both benches were also booked (I think, it was hard to tell what was going on).

Newhaven made the man advantage count. Seven minutes into injury time, Blunt’s corner was eventually bundled home by someone wearing a blue shirt. About five Dockers claimed the goal, but I can now confirm it was definitely Robbo who got the final touch. To say everyone of a Newhaven persuasion was rather happy would be a monumental understatement. There were shades of Boxing Day against Peacehaven a couple of years ago to the celebrations. 

Cue more arguments and yet another lengthy delay.

There was still time for Seaford to launch a final free-kick into the area, which Newhaven managed to defend and, finally, after 11 minutes of added on time, the referee brought the game to its conclusion.

Was the ending harsh on Seaford? Possibly. Would we have been happy if the boot was on the other foot? Absolutely not. Were we bothered? Again, absolutely not.

Let’s face it, the drama is what makes football the game it is. It’s why we love it one week and hate it the next… but keep coming back to it. Always.

We now move onto Monday morning’s game against another local rival – the local rival – Peacehaven. A win could put us just two points behind our neighbours with three games still to play. A big crowd is expected, so you might want to set your alarm clocks and get their early for this one.

Your support will be much appreciated.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Ezra Roeg. Along with Blunty, Ezra always looked the man most likely to cause Seaford problems (probably why he got kicked so much). Direct and busy throughout.