Southern Combination League Premier Division
Little Common Recreation Ground , Little Common
Admission: £6.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 81
I was itching to get to a game this evening, as I had not been to a local non-league game in midweek since 2nd November, mostly due to weather conditions -either with all games postponed, or not feeling inclined to stand out in the cold and/or wet. There was little certainty that games would go ahead this evening, with temperatures only slightly increasing now combined with a minimum of sun. However, fortunately for me, Little Common's location close to the coast ensured that this game would indeed go ahead, with the club tweeting confirmation of their absolute confidence in that during the day.
Little Common have been one of the worst affected teams by weather conditions in the Southern Combination League, as they have not placed a competitive game since Boxing Day - which was their only league fixture played in December. They have played between two and seven games less than all over teams in the division, and came into this fixture in 14th place in the 20 club division, following seven wins and four draws from 17 league games. This match would be a tough assignment though, with (recently) perennial title challengers Newhaven up in second place in the table, following 15 wins and three draws from their 23 league games, but are three points adrift of leaders Crawley Down Gatwick, and have played two games more. In the reverse fixture played in mid September, Newhaven won 2-1, and a week before that, Newhaven won 1-5 at Little Common in the Peter Bentley League Cup.
On a cool night, although not as cold as I had feared (possibly due to my multiple layering), and in front of a sparse crowd which contained a sizeable contingent from Newhaven, it soon became clear that Newhaven would be playing a more possession based brand of football, whereas Little Common preferred the more direct route. Newhaven almost had a dream start in the very first minute, when Lee Robinson forced the home keeper into a good parry at his near post, but they continued in the ascendancy, with the home keeper having to make a string of excellent saves to keep the scoreline level. It looked like being only a matter of time until they opened the scoring, which they did on 20 minutes, when the ball was intercepted in midfield and Callum Connor strode forward before coolly lobbing the onrushing keeper to send the ball gently bouncing into the empty net. And the visitors were awarded a penalty in the 43rd minute, when one of their players was bundled over in the box after sprinting into the box from the left and Charlie Bennett converted emphatically into the bottom right corner.
The home side never really threatened to get back into the game after the break, all the more so when Newhaven scored their third just after the hour mark, when the ball was played across the edge of the penalty area for Connor to run onto before striking the ball low back across the keeper and inside the left hand post. Newhaven saw the remainder of the game out quite comfortably, with the win sufficient to lift them to the top of the table thanks to a substantially better goal difference, but have now played three games more than Crawley Down, who are not playing this midweek.
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