Tranmerekat on Tour: OWLing at the Moon

Newhaven FC v Arundel FC in a pre-season friendly at Mill Road

The Dockers ⚓ head to West Sussex the home of the Mullets of SCFL Division 1. There is a great view of the castle from the ground. The pitch is level but a bit uneven and the grass is quite long and there are clover flowers on it. The Dockers sometimes struggle a bit on slower pitches so this will be a good test for them today. The lineup is different again. Jake is still in goal. There are no centre halves on the pitch as Billy and Bailey are at the heart of the defence, Reedy is on the right and new boy Josh on the left. We think it's Joe Summerbell in the middle with Warwick. Luka is on the left-wing, and there is a new face on the right. Jack Shonk is in the 10 with Lee up front. The opposition are a very mixed bunch height wise but have a height advantage over the Dockers. They also have some odd gym programmes. Fortunately, none of them have haircuts to match their team nickname. It's a lovely setting below the castle and the sun is trying to come out. Let's go.

The Dockers take a while to settle. Not helped by a dreadful back pass from Josh to Jake that is nowhere near powerful enough The Mullets striker gratefully accepts the offer and puts into the net on 15. It's a very slow pitch and the Dockers are being caught out in the strength of their passing. They need to get up to speed quickly. The Mullets keeper is well built but has great reflexes. He makes some great saves otherwise the Dockers would be a good few goals ahead. Not sure how he kept a clean sheet there but he did and the hosts go into the break a goal ahead.

The big news after the break is that the Mullets keeper has changed. Hope the replacement, seen here looking very confident in all fluorescent pink, isn't as good as the guy he replaced. The second half will be disrupted by subs but will try to keep track of it. Reedy is replaced by Max. Cal comes on at right wing, his best side. The Dockers equalise on 60 when Lee scores from a cross⚽. The score line stays level until 80 when Cal curls it into the far top corner from the corner of the box with his left foot like he does ⚽. The Mullets have not had a decent chance since they were gifted a goal on 15. The Dockers only have a slim lead at 90 but it's comfortable. It stays that way until injury time. Mo has replaces Shonk in the 10 behind Lee. They soon swap over and Mo goes up front as Shonk comes back on to play behind him. A short corner from Warwick finds its way back to him and his low cross is turned in at the near post by Shonk on 90 + 2 ⚽. Shonk is in action again as his shot from inside the box is blocked. Mo pops up to slot home the rebound on 90 + 3 ⚽. All over and 41 after a much better second half.

A good recovery from the Dockers, with some partnerships starting to improve. Also some miles in the legs across the squad but there will be some sore legs after running on that long grass. The change of keeper may have helped but the big difference in quality between the sides and it would have shone through eventually. To grab two late goals is good and for Mo to get on the score sheet, you can see how popular he is in the squad already. We had a great time in Arundel seeing the sights. We completed the Big Hoot Owl Trail getting all 8 🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉in town and got a new owl badge too. https://thebighoot.co.uk/

The ref had a good game making sensible decisions and the line keeping of ok too. It's always a bit error prone at this level due to the speed differential between the players and the officials but as long as it's consistent as it seemed to be today than that’s good enough. It's been all good refereeing lately and it's getting a bit boring. When are we going to get a pompous idiot to moan about. Bet it's soon 😑.

The Scran'O'meter was made up with the Carrot Cakes 🍰 from that Mill Road Café and the Cheese Pastie 🥟 from the Moathouse Bakery. Yum. Thanks.

The final pre-season game is on Tuesday and the season starts on Saturday. The Dockers seem ready to go.

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