In the midst of enjoying a holiday break full of decorating, I made time to travel 40 miles across to make my first ever visit to the Haven Centre, home of Crawley Down Gatwick FC.

The Haven Centre has a bar and clubhouse. At the rear is the ground which boasts a covered grandstand with seating for around 120 as well as a covered standing area. The ground’s official capacity is 1000. The club has a large amount of free parking and can be accessed by a narrow pathway at the side of the car park.

This fixture was both sides second game in the Southern Combination Premier Division. In their first game Newhaven FC won 2-1 at home to Varndeanians, with two goals from Lee Robinson. This was then followed by a heavy FA Cup defeat at Horsham YMCA on Saturday. Joint Managers Andy Cook and Sean Breach would have been keen to see Newhaven FC build on their promising league start, with three points tonight.

Crawley Down Gatwick FC, managed by James Day, made a disappointing start to their league campaign, losing 5-0 away at Pagham FC. They recovered some pride and confidence with a resilient 0-1 win away at Holmesdale FC, of the Southern Counties East Football League, at the weekend in the FA Cup Extra Preliminary tie. Tonight they would have been hoping that Lewis Gould, who found his scoring boots in Saturday’s win, would be able to fire them towards a first league success.

The game started with both sides having chances to score. Crawley Down Gatwick looked to come closest when seemingly clear cut openings were fumbled when the goal seemed to be at the mercy of their strikers. Newhaven FC looked to be dangerous on the break and clearly had pace in their forward line. However at 25 minutes the scores were still tied at 0-0.

On 26 minutes Lee Robinson rounded Alex Bellingham in the Crawley Down Gatwick goal and beat the offside trap and most of my filming, to put the away side 0-1 ahead.

Within two minutes Crawley Down Gatwick FC were level, when a precision pass from Callum Kilkenny on the right was crossed first time, by Alex Tidy and the ensuing pressure caused it to be sliced in by Freddie Verrall, in the Newhaven FC defence, to make it 1-1.

At the break the teams went in with the scores level although the home side had gone close three times in the closing five minutes, to give them a slight feeling of being in the ascendency at half time.

Within five minutes of the restart, the game took another turn. A free kick for Newhaven FC was floated up onto the head of Bailie Rogers, who put the ball wide of the keeper to nestle in the net, making the score 1-2.

In the 53rd minute the scores were tied again when Jack Ryder’s header from a corner put the home team level at 2-2 and swung the game back into the balance.

Two minutes later Crawley Down Gatwick FC were ahead for the first time in the game, when Jack Ryder scored his second of the match.

The game still had more twists to entertain and surprise the fans. On 70 minutes Lee Robinson turned provider for Jake Robinson who made it 3-3, with a confident finish.

Just two minutes later Crawley Down Gatwick were ahead again. A fine finish after a turn under pressure, by Josh Alder, making it 4-3.

This goal finally broke the spirit of Newhaven FC and even the dismissal of Callum Kilkenny in the 88th minute, for a second bookable offence, reducing the home side to ten men, didn’t shift the balance of power.

At the final whistle it was Crawley Down Gatwick FC who walked away with a 4-3 win and three points to kick start their league campaign. Newhaven FC had given everything to this match, but some lapses in concentration at the back and some clinical finishing were the deciding factor tonight. The crowd of 121 had been entertained!