What had already been a tough month of fixtures continued on Tuesday evening, with the visit of high-flying Steyning to Fort Road.

Sitting in third place prior to the match, and with just two defeats so far this season, it seems likely that if anyone is likely to challenge runaway leader’s Haywards Heath charge to the title, Steyning seem the most likely to do so.

Fielding a rejigged starting 11 from Saturday’s disappointing defeat at Eastbourne United, Newhaven new they couldn’t start as slowly this time round.

And they didn’t.

In fact, we were close to making a perfect start when we were awarded a penalty in just the second minute (in truth, we probably should have scored in the same passage of play that led to the penalty, only for Ezra Roeg’s effort to be cleared off the line).

Unfortunately, in what has become a bit of a recurring theme this season, we faltered from 12-yards, with Tom Howard-Bold’s penalty saved by Mitch Bromage.

Steyning then had a couple of strong-looking appeals for a penalty waved away by a ref who, let’s just say, didn’t make many friends from either team over the course of 90-minutes. We’ll leave it at that. It’s probably safer that way!

In an open and entertaining first half-an-hour, both teams created and missed chances to take the lead. Twice the recalled Jonny Barnes-Galloway made decent stops to keep out Steyning, while at the other end Roeg was denied by a good save before Shay Tobin had a goal-bound deflected just over the bar.

Ten minutes before half-time, though, it was Steyning who made the breakthrough.

Newhaven conceded possession needlessly with a rushed clearance, and Steyning made them pay as incisive play culminated with Alex Brewer finding the back of the net.

Lee Robinson almost gave us an immediate response, but could only fire wide from a tight angle, only for things to go from bad to worse five minutes later. Barnes-Galloway’s attempted pass was comfortably cut out by Dion Jarvis, and the Steyning skipper accepted the gift to double the visitor’s lead.

Two-down at half-time seemed harsh on a Docker’s team who had stood toe-to-toe with Steyning for much of the half, but had been once again undone by mistakes.

Five minutes after the restart, Steyning appeared to put the game to bed, albeit in controversial circumstances.

The ref’s assistant raised his flag for off-side, only to put it back down a few seconds later. Brewer then grabbed his second of the match moments later, causing Newhaven players to surround the referee in protest.

After a lengthy consultation with his assistant, the goal was allowed to stand, much to Steyning’s delight and Newhaven’s clear consternation.

With 40 minutes still to go, there were fears that this goal would kill the game as a contest.

Yet, within three minutes, Newhaven had a goal back. Ash Wadhams found Robinson with a great pass, and Robbo did the rest, twisting and turning before finding the back of the net with a curling effort from just outside the area.

However, it was Steyning who then kicked on and how they failed to score at least one in the following 20 minutes I’m still not sure. Barnes-Galloway was certainly a contributing factor, though, making a couple of great saves to keep us in with a chance.

Roeg then went close for us with a first-time effort that sailed just the wrong side of the post.

Having failed to put the game to bed, Steyning were really put on the back foot when, in the final minute of normal time, substitute Noah Hoffman grabbed his first goal for the Dockers, reacting quickest to a half-cleared corner to keep us Newhaven fans dreaming.

Unfortunately, it was to prove too little too late, and Steyning saw the remainder of the game out comfortably enough to emerge with the three points.

That third Steyning goal ultimately proving to be the decisive moment on the match, and further shining a light on what had not been a great 90-minutes for the officials.

Having now suffered three consecutive league defeats for the first time this season (albeit all against teams in and around the play-off picture) we head to Lancing on Saturday looking to get our season back on track.

Currently bottom of the league, the Lancers had only won once before last weekend, only to, typically, play themselves back into form just before we play them, winning 5-2 against Shoreham. Please note, this match kicks-off at the rather irregular time of 17:45 as part of the Sussex Groundhop weekend.

We’re then back at Fort Road the following Saturday as Lingfield are our visitors. That match kicks off at the standard time of 15:00.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at both games.

Come On You Dockers!

My man of the match (aka, the controversial part): Shay Tobin. An impressive full debut for the combative midfielder recently signed from Shoreham. Provided some nice touches in the final third, full of running and always willing to make a tackle.