Positives in defeat for plucky Dockers

Eastbourne United 4 Newhaven 2, SCFL Premier Division match #8, Saturday 12^th September 2026

On the back of two league defeats, and a narrow cup victory over a lower division side, the last thing we needed right now was a trip to league leaders Eastbourne United.

Bucking the trend of previous seasons, where United have been traditionally tight at the back but haven’t tended to score enough, this year they are simply flying,

With 29 goals scored from their opening eight games (ten more that the division’s next highest scorers) this was always going to be a tough task for a Dockers side still dogged by injuries to key players.

With many of a Newhaven persuasion fearing the worst, the Dockers actually made a strong start to the game, with both sides cancelling each other out in the early exchanges,

The game’s opening goal arrived in the 24^th minutes and went the way of Newhaven. 

Excellent work from Ryan Blunt down the left (which included another great advantage played by a referee for the second time in consecutive games – kudos to the officials) led to him getting a cross into the box. Tyler Capon couldn’t quite get his head onto the inviting delivery, but it fell to Billy Oliver who swivelled on a six-pence before finding the net.

Things could instantly have gotten even better for the Dockers (and Oliver) when from kick-off the striker had two chances in quick succession to double the lead. First, he forced a good save from the United goalkeeper, before firing over when he probably should have hit the target.

United then missed a great chance to level before they did restore parity just after the half-hour mark.

A quick break culminated with Charlie Ball getting through on goal, and he finished calmly past Fraser Trigwell.

Four minutes later, United were ahead. Ball again was the scorer, although there was more than a hint of fortune about the goal, taking as it did a huge deflection on its way to leaving Trigwell stranded,

The ever-industrious Shay Tobin went close to an equaliser five minutes before the break, but his shot from distance flew narrowly wide, before United went close to extending their lead on the stroke of half-time, but a free header at the back post was headed wastefully over.

2-1 down at the interval, there had been plenty of positives for the Dockers who had gone toe-to-toe with the league leaders, and could easily have been level – or, with a bit of luck, even ahead.

However, United started the second-half strongly, and were duly rewarded with a goal three minutes after the restart.  A fine long-range strike from Rhyle Ovenden finding the top corner.

At this point, an arduous second-half seemed a distinct possibility. But, to the Dockers credit, they hit back immediately.

Juts two minutes after United had doubled their advantage the lead was back down to one.

Joe Radley-Martin’s low curling effort from the edge of the area bounced of the post, where Capon was quickest to react to blast the ball over the line.

United suddenly looked a little shaky, and within moments we really should have been level. A goal-mouth scramble led to a plethora of chances in quick succession, but through a combination of snatched finishing and resolute defending, we couldn’t quite force the ball over the line.

Still Newhaven continued to believe and push for an equaliser. With an hour played Oliver was again denied by a good save. If there was to be another goal in this game, it looked like it would go Newhaven’s way.

There was… and it didn’t.

With just over 25 minutes remaining, all Newhaven’s hard work was undone with some sloppy defending at a corner (not for the first time), which led to Callum Bristow heading home to once again give the hosts a two-goal cushion.

The Dockers once again tried to response, introducing some fresh legs and changing shape in an attempt to find their way back into the game.

But it wasn’t to be. Having restored their two-goal lead, United were content to manage the rest of the game, only affording the Docker brief sniffs at goal and nothing that really came close to being classed as a clear chance.

So it was a third league defeat in a row for the Dockers, but unlike last week at Lancing, there were plenty of positives to take from this outing. This was an infinitely better performance than that served up seven days earlier, and should give the boys some confidence in making them realise they can compete with the best teams this league has to offer.

If we could only cut out the individual errors at key moments!

With a rare midweek off, we have a whole week to prepare for our next match, which sees bottom side Forest Row – a team we beat in the FA Cup earlier this season – visit Fort Road. Hopefully a week’s rest will give the walking wounded a little more time to recover, and we can kick-start our season after a run of defeats following a strong start,

Your support in making this happen would be much appreciated.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Ryan Blunt. This was as good as Blunty has been so far this season, constantly driving the team forward, and a real combative presence in the centre of midfield. Special mention also to Billy Oliver, whose direct style caused the United defence all sorts of problems before he tired in the second-half and was replaced.

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