Men's 5s recover to beat Brighton & Hove 7s 4-2

FIXTURE: Sussex Div 4
HOME TEAM: Brighton & Hove Men's 7s 2
AWAY TEAM: Lewes Men's 5s 4 Debice x2, Wain, Cooke

On Saturday Lewes Men's 5s travelled to Blatchington Mills for the early slot against old rivals Brighton & Hove 7s and found themselves 2-0 down within 9 minutes; the first from a Penalty Corner (that did not come out of the D) and the second from a misplaced pass that left Brighton's speedy forward one-on-one with Chris Sharpe.

In shocked disbelief of this (very) unfamiliar situation, the 5s attacked from the restart with some quick passing hockey that saw a final pass received with his back to goal by Dax Debice who turned on a sixpence (according to Peter Colebourn) and slammed the ball into the backboard.

The Lewes equaliser came 10 minutes later at a Penalty Corner following numerous shots at goal, when the ball was finally tapped in by skipper Malcolm Wain. Brighton came straight back on the attack, but the 5s defence now had their 'hard to beat' hats on. Brighton's forwards found David Mansell's flat stick on many occasions and the speed of Simon Murray and Tim Bullen enabled them to cut-out searching passes.

Lewes finished the first half with another Penalty Corner that was calmly slipped left by David Mansell and swept in by David Cooke to claim his first of the season and enter the break with the visitors leading 3-2.

Starting the 2nd period with the ball, Lewes played some lovely triangular passing hockey to keep the ball in Brighton's half. With 7 minutes played, James Hall carried the ball past two players down the right wing and his through pass was sublimely crossed by Peter Colebourn and met by Dax Debice with a strong first-time hit to defeat the Brighton goalkeeper. C-O-L-E-B-O-U-R-N, yes a sublime cross from Colebourn.

With the game already turned, the Brighton defence strengthened and thwarted numerous Lewes attacks but the home side's attack could not respond. With the Lewes defence standing strong and Ollie Pendered chasing back time and again, Brighton resorted to the crash ball option that fortuitously never found a man on the post.

Special mention this week to the Lewes Midfield of Simon Popple, Ollie Pendered and David Cooke, marshalled by Phil Brown who all worked so very hard to stop Brighton finding any way through the centre of the pitch.

Lewes Men's 5s have now secured promotion in 2nd position with just two games remaining. Next Saturday the 5s are Home at 3pm vs Crawley 4s.