Newhaven late show leaves Lingfield beaten – picture special and report

The Dockers made a fast start and could have already been ahead before they finally took the lead in the 13th minute. Lee Robinson got in down the left, and could have gone for goal himself, but instead elected to hook the ball into the danger zone, where his older brother Jake was waiting to bundle the ball over the line.

The goal succeeded only in rousing the visitors from their early slumber, and for the next 15 minutes Lingfield forced Newhaven onto the back foot. The Dockers’ young goalkeeper Johnny Barnes-Galloway made a good diving stop to keep the hosts in front, before Lingfield’s striker blazed wastefully over when well placed inside the area.

Having ridden the mini-storm, Newhaven wasted a decent chance to double their advantage ten minutes before half-time. Once again, Lee Robinson elected to pass instead of shoot, and the ball eventually found its way to Emmanuel Abudiore whose shot was deflected behind.

Midway through the second-half the visitors did find an equaliser. Unsurprisingly it came from a set-piece. Conor Wilford’s brilliant free-kick finding the top corner of the goal. It took Newhaven a while to recover from the disappointment of conceding, and were it not for a simply superb point-blank save from Barnes-Galloway, the game could have had a very different outcome.

As it was Newhaven survived, and Lingfield subsequently fell apart in the final ten minutes, as the Dockers, roared on by a vocal crowd, stormed to victory. The hosts regained the lead seven minutes from time, when a Lingfield player finally forced the ball past his own keeper, after two others had tried and failed to do so.

Just two minutes later, the Dockers made the game safe. Lee and Jake combined once again, with the former squaring to the latter who was left with the simple task of tapping home for his second of the afternoon. In injury time, Newhaven put some gloss on the scoreline as substitute Ash Wadhams grabbed his first goal for the Dockers, squeezing home from a tight angle.

Newhaven host struggling Shoreham on Saturday, looking for their third consecutive victory.