Big Al quits Dockers

AFTER years in the County League wilderness, light at last appeared at the end of the Fort Road tunnel last season when Allan Winton's battling Dockers rose to the giddy heights of seventh in division three.

AFTER years in the County League wilderness, light at last appeared at the end of the Fort Road tunnel last season when Allan Winton's battling Dockers rose to the giddy heights of seventh in division three.

It may not sound much of an achievement after the glory of bygone eras at the club, but for Newhaven it marked a significant step forward after years battling just to survive.

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Manager Allan Winton, who was preparing to call it a day at the end of last season, was persuaded to stay on by his players to mount a promotion challenge this time around.

However, the club's lofty ambitions have failed to materialise as Newhaven once again find themselves struggling near the foot of the table after a poor start to the campaign. The return to the bad old days at Fort Road has convinced Allan that now is the time to move on.

'I'm still a bit bemused by it all to be honest,' he told the Express.

'Everyone was buzzing at the end of last season because it was a terrific achievement to get the club up to seventh position and we really thought that this time around we could go on and win promotion.

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'We haven't got money here to throw around like they do at Haywards Heath, but I retained almost all of last season's squad, brought in a couple of new faces and I thought that by this time we'd be right up there challenging.

'Unfortunately it hasn't turned out like that and we've gone backwards.

'The commitment just isn't there. Only five or six of the squad completed pre-season. Players are too ready with an excuse to miss training.

'We've lost that steel that we had last year and some of the players have shown no heart, which is something totally alien to me.We've been rolling over too easily and with the calibre of players we've got down there it isn't good enough.

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'There's things I wanted to work on, there's things I've picked up over the years that I want to coach the players and you can't do that if only five people turn up for training.

'Glen Geard made a lot of good points in the Sussex Express talking about the lack of commitment from players in the County League, and Dave Nelson, who resigned at Uckfield recently, also hit the nail on the head when he said that you can pick a team on Tuesday and it's been totally decimated come Friday by people pulling out.

'I'm used to a higher level and used to things being done right and the situation here became too much to bear. The fact that my work commitments have increased and I've missed a couple of games hasn't helped either, but I wish the club luck and sincerely hope they can move forward.'

See page 51 for news of a rare Newhaven win on Saturday in the Division Three Cup.

This Saturday Newhaven return to league action with a visit to Ifield (2pm).

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