Six of the best for on-song Dockers

Newhaven 6 Crawley Down Gatwick 1, RUR Cup Second Round, Tuesday 27^th October 2026

On Tuesday night, we welcomed Crawley Down Gatwick to Fort Road for our second cup game against the same opposition in the space of a week.

Having come out victorious in the Peter Bentley Cup seven days ago in Crawley Down, we were hoping to repeat the feat in the RUR Cup this time around.

Following a frustrating Saturday afternoon in Lingfield (apologies for the lack of report on that one) where too many mistakes (officials included) ultimately cost us in a match that we actually played fairly well in, this was an opportunity to get back to winning ways.

Just as we did in the match last Tuesday, the Dockers flew out of the box and raced into an early lead courtesy of Billy Oliver.

With just four minutes on the clock, the in-form striker made space for himself just outside the area, before firing a low shot into the bottom corner.

Things were to get even better barely a minute later.

Newhaven instantly won possession from the kick-off, a looping ball forward found Oliver, a sublime touch took him away from the defence, and he finished calmly to give the Dockers some early breathing space.

Crawley Down were rocking, but they certainly weren’t out just yet.

In fact, by the 15^th minute, you could easily make a case that they could have been level, as some profligate finishing let us off the hook on more than one occasion.

The Anvil’s goal was also leading a charmed life at times, though. Ross Barclay fired over after the Crawley Down keeper had flapped at a corner, while Ezra Roeg and Oliver both went close with efforts from range.

With half-time approaching it was hard to believe there had only been those two early goals scored, given the number of chances being created by both teams.

However, two late goals at the end of the first-half would ultimately put the game to bed.

The first of these was a thing of real beauty, as Joe Radley-Martin curled an absolutely unbelievable free-kick in off the post. If you haven’t seen it yet, then I recommended getting on our socials quick-smart. You won’t be disappointed.

The fourth arrived right on the stroke of half-time as Lee Robinson’s low cross was turned into the net at the near post by Oliver to complete a much-deserved first-half hat-trick for the striker.

Four-up at the interval, the only blemish on a very entertaining first-half was yet another injury, this time for Max Vardy who was taken to A&E at half-time. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious and we’ll see Vards back on the pitch very soon.

As was the case last week, the second-half was rather more controlled than the first had been, with chances fewer and further between.

We had the ball in the net again just before the hour-mark, when their keeper seemed to simply miss the ball from a corner, but was saved by the ref who had seen a foul that eluded me.

Barclay then went close with a glancing header that flashed just the wrong side of the post.

With just over 15-minutes remaining, Roeg got a goal that his overall performance had deserved, curling a delightful free-kick of his own into the top corner. Again, it’s one worth taking a look at on our socials if you haven’t yet seen it.

Within three minutes, Newhaven scored again; the third time in the game we had managed to hit Crawley Down with two goals in quick succession.

Roeg again was the scorer, finding the bottom corner with a powerful strike from the edge of the area.

To give credit to Crawley Down, they never stopped working, and were rewarded with a consolation seven minutes from time. Benjamin Martin-Coward finding the back of the net with a fine finish.

It means Newhaven’s wait for a clean sheet now stretches to 13 games, with the last one coming back on 29^th August against Horsham YM. That said, there was only one of Newhaven’s starting back four still on the pitch when Crawley Down scored, so it’s only a slight irritation, nothing more.

We now face Westfield away in the quarter-final of the competition; date to be announced.

Hopefully we can build on this fine result and performance and find a bit of consistency as we enter November.

We’re at Fort Road again on Saturday as we welcome Midhurst and Easebourne in the league, who have been struggling in recent weeks.

We then face Crawley Down for the third time in the space of three weeks on Saturday 7^th November (the fourth meeting between the sides this season); this time at their place.

A couple of victories in those games would go some way towards making the league table a little more pleasant to look at.

Your support at both these games would be much appreciated.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Billy Oliver. No surprise. The striker is on fire at the moment, grabbing a superb first-half hat-trick here to take his goals total to 11 from 13 games. Long may it continue!

While I’ve got your attention, my debut crime fiction 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