Lewes Mens 5s beat Crawley 4s 3-1

FIXTURE: Sussex Div 4
HOME TEAM: Lewes Men's 5s 3 (Debice, Rolph x 2)
AWAY TEAM: Crawley Men's 4s 1 (Paterson!!)

On Easter Saturday both Lewes and Crawley managed to field full sides to fulfil this rearranged Division 4 fixture.

The 5s started quickly with the team moving forward straight from the start and some good passing hockey culminated in a well-placed pass into the D from Peter Colebourn that was struck home, by the 5s top scorer Dax Debice, with only two minutes gone. The very efficient notes made by Jon's parents then record that with 4 minutes gone, the usual ballerina-esque 'spin and hit' of Steve Fuller was too quick for the ball on this occasion and......he missed a sitter.

Crawley immediately responded with a press that kept the Homeside's 'hard to beat' defence busy and brought 2 good saves out of GoalKeeper Charlie Palmer. The back four of Mark Pearson, Simon Murray, Toby Rolph and Alan Forster met each wave with a flat stick or a quick interception but eventually it was Crawley's 2nd XI Captain (maybe they won't recognise me) that equalised with a fine and unexpected reverse tomahawk following an excellent dribbling display.

The Visitors continued to dominate the first half but without reward and so the game entered the break at 1-1 with a few feathers spat and a Toby Rolph team talk demanding that it didn't matter which team we were playing, we could still beat the side on the pitch.

A good start again for Lewes in the second half saw the returning Charlie Cooke causing problems on the left wing and a quick interchange of passing in the D winning a penalty corner that was firmly struck home by Toby Rolph.

From the restart, with Crawley's three 2nd XI players now dropping deeper, Lewes went hunting for a third. The midfield trio of Phil Brown, David Cooke and Dax Debice battled hard and when Jon Cornish tracked back to turnover a Crawley attack the ball was played quickly and neatly between Phil, Dax and Peter, working up to a shot at goal that was stopped by a foot on the line.

Bearing in mind Lewes 5s non-existent record of scoring Penalty Flicks this season, it was excellent to see young Charlie Cooke step up to the spot. The flick was good, kept low (better than his Dads) and placed to the right corner but unfortunately very well saved by the diving Crawley goalkeeper.

This stereotypical 'game of two halves' was now all Lewes, Crawley had dropped off in Midfield but their defence remained strong thwarting numerous Lewes attacks. With 7 minutes to play and nowhere to go Steve Fuller smartly placed the ball on a foot in the D to win one final Penalty Corner that once again was struck firmly into the backboard by Toby Rolph to claim his match winning second...... and the game was over, but for a couple of obligatory and totally necessary diving shots from the Lewes skipper, oh and maybe one missed 'sitter' according to the dugout scribes!

Next Saturday the 5s travel to Southwick 3s for their final game of the season. Well played gentlemen. #happyhockey