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An afternoon to forget for the Dockers

Lancing 3 Newhaven 1, SCFL Premier Division Match #6, Saturday 5th September 2026

Warning. Spoiler alert.

This is not going to be the longest blog I’ve ever written.

Nor is it going to be the most enjoyable. Not, that is, if you are of a Newhaven persuasion.

The Dockers travelled to Lancing on Saturday keen to put Monday’s first league defeat of the season firmly behind them.

We may have been beaten 5-1 by Haywards Heath on the Bank Holiday, but that defeat wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the scoreline may suggest. In fact, up until the final 25 minutes of that game, we’d been well in it, before it quickly unravelled late-on.

With a (mostly) young Lancing team having only taken three points from their opening six matches, hopes were high that Newhaven could bounce quickly back to form with a morale-boosting win.

Needless to say, that’s not what happened.

There can be no denying that, to a man, the Dockers were miles off it on Saturday.

Lancing simply looked hungrier throughout and were duly rewarded with a win they fully merited.

True, Newhaven’s cause wasn’t helped by some iffy (or at least massively inconsistent) officiating at times (especially from one of the assistants who I can only assume was on some form of commission for each time he raised his flag), but that doesn’t hide the fact that on the day we simply weren’t good enough.

Just after the quarter of an hour mark, we thought we’d taken the lead, only for Ezra Roeg’s strike to be chalked off for off-side.

Lancing soon took advantage of their reprieve. Ash Wadhams looked to have been caught in the area, but the ref waved it away. The left-back required treatment, which subsequently required him to leave the field for a minute (them’s the rules… well, when the ref feels like it) and while he was off, in a case of Déjà vu to what happened on Monday, the opposition scored. Archie McGonigle finishing off a decent move down the right.

Roeg should have equalised almost immediately, but pulled his shot wide when through on goal, before just past the half-hour mark the Dockers drew level. Joe Radley-Martin just about managing to force Roeg’s pull-back over the line.

Going into the break level, it was hoped that the second-half would see Newhaven rediscover some of the attacking verve that they’d been showing in the early weeks of the season.

For whatever reason, though, (and I’m sure key injuries and other absences are playing a significant part), the Dockers just couldn’t get it going, and it was Lancing who took control.

By the time Mo Khedidji latched onto a sloppy pass in midfield to race through and score ten minutes after the restart, it was hard to argue that the goal hadn’t been coming.

The goal did spark a brief response from Newhaven who created a flurry of chances in the next ten minutes which could have brought an equaliser. Max Vardy and Ryan Blunt forced The Lancer’s custodian into a couple of decent saves, while the returning-from-injury Tyler Capon spurned the best opportunity, lofting an effort just the wrong side of the post when through on goal.

However, with 20 minutes remaining, Lancing scored a killer third. Again it was all too easy as a driven free-kick was guided to the back post, where the unmarked Ryan Plummer was waiting to tap home from inside the six-yard box.

This time there was no real response from Newhaven. By full-time, Blunt had entered the sin-bin, having let his frustrations with the officiating get the better of him, and Roeg was struggling with a rib injury, effectively leaving us playing with nine-men (all subs having been used).

It was an afternoon to forget for a very off-key Dockers.

On Tuesday night we travel to Westfield in the opening round of the Sussex Senior Cup (19:30 kick-off), before we face a really tough task next weekend with a visit to current league leaders Eastbourne United, who are flying at the moment.

Let’s hope we can rediscover our early season form in time for that one. A repeat of the Hassocks performance would be most welcome.

We’re back at Fort Road on the 19th September when we entertain Forest Row in the league, having already beaten them in the FA Cup earlier in the season.

Your attendance at all these games would be most welcome.

Come On You Dockers.

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Sorry. No stand-out candidate on this occasion... Again

While I’ve got your attention, my debut adult novel, Snapped is now available to download on Kindle. You can check it out here: Snapped eBook : Fuller, David: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

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