Lewes Mens 5s beat Horsham 5s 3-2

FIXTURE: Sussex Div 4
HOME TEAM: Horsham Men's 5s 2
AWAY TEAM: Lewes Men's 5s 3 (Debice 2, Moore)

On Saturday Lewes 5s travelled across Sussex to play 4th place Horsham 5s. The home side started the stronger, fielding a solid core of experienced players amidst skilful youth that quickly out paced the Lewes defence and saw the Men in Green 1-0 down again within 10 minutes.

Horsham continued to press the Lewes defence, winning numerous Penalty Corners and drawing save after save from the visitor's young goalkeeper and Man of the Match - Stan Hughes..

This 'Hard to Beat' attitude soon spread through the Lewes defence with Mark Pearson having an outstanding game at Sweeper allowing Tom Fewster to bring the ball forward into midfield. After 20 minutes, with composure regained, Lewes entered the Horsham 'D' with Steve Fuller, back to goal, fooling the defenders with a cheeky hit through his own legs to be swept in by Dax Debice at the post.

As the first half came to an end, it was Steve Fuller again who set up the second goal for Lewes, slipping the ball left in front of goal for Ryan Moore to push in at the post and claim his first goal for Lewes.

Lewes started the second half as strong as they finished the first and after 8 minutes (sounds familiar) Ryan Moore dribbled into the Horsham 'D', drew the keeper and slipped the ball across the goal to the back post where Dax Debice was waiting 'stick down' for a tap-in to claim his brace and just reward for his relentless running.

The game then turned to the midfield for a period where Dave Cooke, Dylan Williams and Alan Forster chased and battled to prevent the experienced Horsham core from gaining control.

Whilst the visitors had other missed chances it was Horsham that finished the game on the offensive closing the deficit to 3-2 from a well-worked Penalty Corner routine but, with their backs to the wall, Lewes remained hard to beat until the end to take the 3 points.

On Saturday the 5s return to the glorious Southdown pitch for another top of the table clash against 3rd place Brighton 7s.

Match Report: Malcolm Wain