Sussex Senior Cup Second Round
The Haven, Crawley Down
Admission: £6.00
Programme: Online
Attendance: 81
For my last Tuesday evening action before “Lockdown 2” kicks in on Thursday, I decided to stay within Sussex for some Sussex Senior Cup action. As I am not at work this week, I did not feel the need to stay local this evening, and I shortlisted revisits to Midhurst & Easebourne, or Crawley Down. In consideration that I will probably have a long drive for my last football fix tomorrow evening, I settled for the easier to get to ground of the two for me.
I last visited The Haven in March 2014 for an Isthmian League game, and there have been hardly noticeable changes to the ground since then, not that any have been required. A large car park onsite provides plenty of parking next to the path leading to the ground, passing past the clubhouse building en route, before walking down a partially enclosed path to the turnstile block, located by the halfway line. Visitors were invited to log their visit via the NHS Track and Trace QR code, or on paper on arrival at the turnstile. Once inside, a long metallic all-seater stand sits adjacent to the entrance, straddling the half way line, whilst behind one end, close to the corner flag, is a small metal stand for standing. On the other side of the corner flag a tea bar on wheels was installed, but with no hot food available this evening. There is just hard standing around the rest of the ground, a length and end of which is lined with a tall hedge, one goal with tall trees, and the remaining length has The Haven Centre building, which houses the clubhouse as well as being a community centre, in the background. The 24 page programme was only available online, but a very decent publication it is with plenty of interesting reading material and comprehensive league stats and facts to digest.
This tie would be between two clubs from the Southern Combination League Premier Division. Newhaven have had a good start to their season, winning six and drawing two of their nine league games so far, and have progressed to the second round of the FA Vase. They received a bye in the previous round of the Sussex Senior Cup. Crawley Down Gatwick have had a reasonable start to their season, winning five and drawing one of their nine league games. Remarkably, this evening's game would be the club's eighth home game in a row since late September, a run which included a 2-1 win against Steyning Town in the previous round of the Sussex Senior Cup.
On a clear, moonlit evening which became decidedly chilly as the game wore on, Newhaven got a dream start, opening the scoring on four minutes following a good passing move into the box, which Alfie Rogers finished off by slotting past the keeper. And Newhaven went on to dominate the first half, with a big chance coming on 27 minutes when a Newhaven diagonal ball forward could only be deflected into the path of the Newhaven forward running through on goal, but ending up heading to a tighter angle, the eventual shot hit the side netting. But on 32 minutes, Newhaven did score their second, following a throw in by the half way line which the Crawley Down players were not alert to and Lee Robinson ran through down the left before firing the ball across the keeper and into the net. The closest Crawley Down came in the first half was on 38 minutes, when a cross was met with a glancing header, and the Newhaven keeper had a little juggle of the ball but regained control just before a Crawley Down player arrived. But within a minute, Newhaven opened up a commanding lead with their third. The ball was played forward and it seemed the keeper had enough time to get out of his area and clear the ball, but he delayed too long before finally coming out, and Robinson won the race to the ball, knocked it to one side of the keeper before striking the ball in off the far post from a tight angle.
And so Crawley Down had it all to do in the second half, and although Newhaven came closest first to scoring again on 52 minutes when a cross from the left was sliced by a defender and the ball looped just over his own bar, Crawley Down did have a decent spell but lacked a cutting edge. They did pull a goal back on 64 minutes, when Michael Wood drilled a free kick into the bottom right corner. That gave the hosts real hope, and on 71 minutes, another fiercely struck free kick was this time heading for the top left corner but forced an excellent save. But slowly the hosts seemed to run out of gas somewhat, and on 81 minutes, Newhaven restored their three goal lead and progression to the next round when the ball was played low through the middle, Robinson ran onto it and struck the ball past the keeper despite getting a hand to the ball, to seal Robinson's hat-trick. The game was up, but credit to Crawley Down for continuing to push for another consolation, but it didn't come, and so it was Newhaven who progressed to the next round.
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