A welcome respite in the barrage of dreadful weather meant that it was game on for Bexhill Utd and Newhaven at the Polegrove on Saturday afternoon. These two sides know each other well and always seem to produce a competitive fixture.

In recent weeks Bexhill have been caught cold at the start of games but no one expected them to be a goal down after just 30 seconds when a mistake at the back presented experienced striker Lee Robinson with a gift that he was never going to turn down to give the Dockers the earliest of leads.

That early goal immediately shifted the axis of the game with a jubilant Newhaven launching wave after wave of attacks on the Pirates defence and took some serious work at the back to stop the visitors running away with the game before the hosts had even got a look in.

Bexhill started to get themselves organised with Charlie Playford and Will Saunders working well but it was proving difficult to get carve out any clear cut chances. At the bowling green end, Newhaven doubled their lead as Robinson got on the end of a good cross from Wood to notch his second.

There was an immediate response from Bexhill but no one on the end of a ball across the six yard box, minutes later Robinson should have killed the game off but blazed over with the goal at his mercy.

The Pirates kept going and on 37 minutes they were back in the game, some good work from Max Hollobone and Saunders set up Jack Shonk, the striker grabbing his 17th league goal of the season.

The second half was far more even than the first 45 with Bexhill well up for the challenge although Newhaven continued to look threatening on the attack. The game itself became increasingly fractious as the two sides battled each other into a bit of a stalemate.

The whistle went with the Dockers claiming the points, a win that keeps them in contention for a play-off place but for the Bexhill the defeat extinguishes any realistic prospects of making the cut.

The Pirates head to Haywards Heath Town this coming Saturday (ko 3pm) hoping for an upset against a team who were running away with the league in recent weeks but a combination of cup games and postponements has seen knocked off their perch, a chance for Bexhill to avenge the home battering from back in October.

Courtesy of Geoff Morris.