Newhaven stay alive in battle for sixth

Roffey 1 Newhaven 2, SCFL Premier Division match #36, Saturday 11^th April 2026

Following a disappointing Easter Monday derby day defeat against Peacehaven, the Dockers took to the road on Saturday, looking to bounce back to winning way against Roffey.

With the play-offs now out of the picture, Newhaven are battling for what would still be a hugely creditable sixth-placed finish. Even eighth, which is the lowest we can finish, is some achievement, given the complete rebuild that took place at the start of the season, not to mention the youthful age of the squad.

Roffey, meanwhile, are firmly ensconced in mid-table, with just one win in their last seven games. Albeit that victory came in their last match against high-flying Horsham YM in their own Easter Monday derby; a result that suggested we’d facing a real battle to snag three more points here.

An injury to Ezra Roeg during the warm-up, led to a late call-up on the bench for our latest youth prospect, Jake Buss, fresh from being part of the Under 23s team that had won the league title a couple of nights earlier with victory at Little Common. Congratulations to Mike Baker and all the guys on their hugely successful season. Great stuff!

Would young Buss get his chance to shine at some point during the afternoon’s proceedings?

On a sunny but blustery afternoon, at what must be one of the most scenic grounds in Sussex (genuinely gutted we won’t be visiting the aptly named ‘Theatre of Trees’ next season as Roffey move to groundshare with Horsham), the opening exchanges were cagey, with no real clear openings from either side.

Charlie Gibson forced the first save of the match from the Roffey keeper, from which Shay Tobin could only fire the rebound over. Rudi Jones was then also off target from the edge of the area, while at the other end the Newhaven defence was looking as solid as it has for quite a while, restricting Roffey to very few dangerous moments.

The breakthrough arrived on the half-hour mark. Roffey failed to deal sufficiently with a ball into the box, and Dan Allen eventually turned the ball home at the far post to give us what was a deserved lead.

Five minutes before the interval, the hosts created their best chance of the half, but Jones was on hand to block a dangerous low ball into the area behind for a corner, which we dealt with.

The consensus among the Newhaven faithful at half-time was one of encouragement. We’d looked as solid as we have for quite some time and had, on the whole, controlled the game. Albeit without creating too many golden chances.

That pattern was replicated for much of the second-half, although it was actually the hosts who created the half’s first two opportunities of note. A shot from a promising position that was dragged wide, before Harry Hammond cleared a scuffed effort off the line.

Having survived these early scares, Newhaven soon once again assumed full control of the match, and with an hour on the clock they really should have been two ahead.

Tobin reacted quickest to a loose ball in the area and looked to have the simple task in heading in from close-range only for the Roffey keeper to make a brilliant save, somehow clawing the ball off his line. Should he have been given the opportunity to save it? Probably not... but take nothing away from what was one of the saves of the season.

Robbo then curled a shot wide after being sent through by Jones, before Newhaven finally got the second they’d been searching for with just under a quarter-of-an-hour remaining.

Ryan Blunt’s shot was once again saved by the Roffey keeper, but the ball fell kindly to Ash Wadhams who had the simple task of tapping home to double our advantage.

There was no immediate response from Roffey, and it looked as though the Dockers would see this game out with the minimum of fuss.

Long-term followers of the Dockers should know by now, though, that this is very seldom the case.

With five minutes remaining, Roffey pulled a goal back from nowhere through Max Mesquita, although to say Newhaven weren’t happy with the award of the goal would be a massive understatement. Lee Robinson appeared to be clearly fouled in the build-up, only for the ref to wave play-on much to everyone’s bemusement. Roffey took full advantage to ensure that what had looked like a procession to three points would be anything but.

That said, Dexter Lambert almost restored our two-goal lead late on, only to be denied by yet another fine save, before deep in injury time, Roffey came uncomfortably close to snatching a draw.

Roman Chiosa could only parry a long-range strike into the path of a Roffey attacker, who looked almost certain to tap in an unlikely equaliser, only for Tobin to deny him with a brilliant last-ditch tackle to preserve our three points.

The only downbeat note on the afternoon was for those of us hoping to see a Buss cameo. Not only did we not get to see him get any minutes, but we didn’t even get to see him leave the dug-out to warm-up. I’m not even entirely sure he was even wearing football boots. What can you say? I guess some youngsters just don’t want it enough!

This victory saw the Dockers exceed their points total from last season, with two games still to play, which is something I would imagine very few people would have foreseen way back at our first pre-season game in July. Well done all.

So with two games to go, Newhaven sit eighth, level on points with the two teams above them, but behind on goal difference (a long way behind).

If we are to finish sixth, we’ll have to do it the hard way, as those final matches come away to title-chasing Haywards Heath next Saturday (in what is a must win game for them), and Horsham YM at home the following week. Having already secured a play-off berth, you can be sure YM will be wanting to head into the post-regular season matches on the back of a victory.

Your support in helping us get something from both those games could be invaluable. We look forward to seeing you there.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Shay Tobin. A proper grafting performance from the midfielder. If there was a blade of grass on the pitch he didn’t cover then I’d like to see it. Should have capped his fine performance with a goal, but atoned for the miss with his goal-line block which secured our three-points.