...to escape from the bottom of the Sussex Premier League where they found themselves at Xmas. Although the core of the team will still be comprised of an exciting group of home-grown young players, with Goldie continuing to manage the team, Kerry Fitzpatrick taking the reigns as Captain, Innei Shum and Meg Hersey coming back in to the team after recovering from injury, Ruth Walshe, and Flo Carr Smith strengthening the forward line-up all that remained was to see how the revamped Ladies 2’s would fare.

First up were Chichester Priory Park Ladies 1’s, on the 10th January, who were despatched 3 – 0, with goals from Flo Car-Smith, Ruth Walshe and Lucy Le Lievre, to give the Lewes Ladies a well-earned spot in the final of the Sussex Plate Competition to look forward to. Although great to get the win, with Chichester also languishing at the bottom of the Premier League it may not have been the sternest test available. With mid-table Mid-Sussex Ladies 1’s up next, this match would give a good indication of how much the Lewes Ladies 2’s were improving. The result was an emphatic 4 – 1 away win! With last week’s Brighton & Hove Ladies 2’s fixture re-scheduled due to a frozen pitch, the strongest test of the new look Ladies 2’s would be away to Hailsham Ladies 1’s on a cold and wintry day at Hailsham Community College.

With Hailsham lying 3rd in the Sussex Premier League, the result of this match would, indeed, be the best indicator of how far the Lewes 2’s have come since Xmas. With Kerry Fitzpatrick and Lucy Le Lievre away playing for the Ladies 1’s, the experienced double-act of Sarah Riley and Helen (Gubbsy) Fuller were drafted in to help the Ladies 2’s stay on track and earn a third win in a row. With Gubbsy sporting her customary ‘lucky tights’, holes and all, the match started at a frantic pace and with Elspeth Lunt, at right-back, flying up the wing and feeding great balls to the midfield of Camilla Busbridge, Meg Hershey, and Phoebe Rivet, who immediately started to threaten the Hailsham D.

With Lewes controlling possession early on after only 5 mins, Innei Shum fired a pass in to the D, which Flo Car-Smith deftly despatched past the flailing and floundering Hailsham goalie. 1 – 0 to Lewes. This goal resulted in the, by now, customary French horn celebration from ardent Lewes 2’s supporter, Christophe Rivet although he had to blow hard to be heard over the noisy Hailsham home crowd. With Hailsham struggling to get out of their own half, Lewes continued to pile on the pressure and, after more great attacking play from Lewes, with several shots saved by the Hailsham goalie, Elspeth Lunt was on hand to pick up the rebound and slot the ball home for a 2 – 0 lead. Another toot on the horn signalled a phenomenal start to the match by Lewes!!

The Hailsham team were now realising that they shouldn’t have taken too much notice of the Lewes 2’s league position, as they were playing as if they were second from top, not bottom. The Lewes defence, with Rosie Youngman and Gubbsy extremely solid as centre-backs and Gabby Rudrum having an extremely strong game at left-back the Hailsham forwards got precious little return for their efforts early on. With Beth Webster, Emma Fuller and Ruth Walshe running the Hailsham defence ragged, Lewes strived to find a third goal to finish off the match.

To their credit Hailsham managed to re-group and, in what was an extremely competitive first half, they managed to strike back just before the half time whistle, having earned a number of shorts to create the chance needed to get back in the match. Katie Hall, having made a series of great saves, was just unable to reach the ball, as Hailsham managed to slide the ball in to her goal after a mad goal-line scramble. With only one goal separating the two sides, Hailsham knew they had to equalise, before Lewes found their third goal, to have a chance at salvaging at least a point from this match.

The second half was to be one of the most exciting the youngsters in the Lewes team have experienced. With the teams now seemingly evenly matched, play switched from one end to the other with both teams having chances to score. Neither defence gave in, however, and the score remained at 2-1 with the match entering the last quarter. With time running out, Hailsham were desperate to break down the Lewes defence, but Katie in goal, Gubbsy and Rosie held firm in the middle, whilst Gabby and Elspeth provided the outlets to relieve the pressure again and again. With just a few minutes remaining Phoebe Rivet picked up the ball and went on a fantastic run up the left half of the pitch, resulting in her accidentally flattening a Hailsham defender as she flew up the left wing. This run relieved the pressure and used up valuable seconds. Hailsham had time for one or two more attacks but finally the whistle went to signal the end of a fantastic match, with Lewes coming out ahead 2 – 1. The cat is now definitely out of the bag. The Lewes Ladies 2’s are now a force to be reckoned with.

This was a superb team performance, with everyone working hard for each other and a big thank you to Sara and Gubbsy for their support. As luck would have it, the Ladies 2’s will meet Hailsham Ladies 1’s again in the final of the Sussex Plate at the end of the season. I, for one, can’t wait for that re-match!! With Kerry back as captain next week we await the next instalment of the Ladies 2’s march to mid-table safety. Team: Katie Hall (GK), Innei Shum, Emma Fuller, Gabby Rudrum, Rosie Youngman, Beth Webster, Phoebe Rivet, Elspeth Lunt, Flo Car-Smith, Ruth Walshe, Meg Hershey, Camilla Busbridge, Helen Fuller (captain), Sara Riley.

Report by Richard Rudrum