Men’s 5s lose 3-1 Away at Brighton

FIXTURE: Sussex Div 3
HOME TEAM: Brighton & Hove Men's 6s. 3
AWAY TEAM: Lewes Men's 5s. 1

The 5s took a strong 12 to Brighton but lacked a regular goalkeeper. Brighton’s Captain and goalkeeper was therefore pleased to see the Lewes skipper padding up, saying “At least I’ll know where you’ll be all game and it won’t be hanging around poaching at my back post!”

The first half saw the men in green play some excellent passing hockey, on one occasion playing ‘keep-ball’ and stringing together some 30+ passes. However, Brighton showed early signs of how quick they could counter in numbers. The Lewes defence remained ‘hard to beat’ marshalled by Toby ‘Thanks I’ll have that’ Rolph and another good performance from Jamie Coombs at CentreBack. Claiming good possession and numerous shots on goal, frustratingly the visitors could not find the back of the net and so the first half finished 0-0.

The second period started with Henry Roser taking on the mantle of Centre-Mid that released Phil Brown to go-a-roaming and soon resulted in a fierce shot saved by the Brighton keeper’s breast plate. New additions Reza Azimi and Ollie Sherfield both showed good pace and skills up front but unfortunately the 5s lacked the ‘flat stick deflection’ to finish off Mike Fuller’s left wing dribbling and crosses.

Against the general run of play, the homeside attacked, somewhat akin to watching Manchester City on the counter and despite Tim Bullen’s last ditch tackle, the ball deflected into the corner of the Lewes goal. Brighton’s 2nd came following an attacking foot in the Lewes D that was missed by the umpire and seen too clearly by the Lewes skipper who then naturally umpired the foul instead of concentrating on the subsequent shot that went between his legs. Goal-keeping lesson learnt.

All too soon, with Lewes pressing high for a goal, Brighton countered once more, on mass. They’d learnt earlier not to go anywhere near Toby Rolph’s ‘picking stick’ and on this occasion used pace and numbers to go around him and use the resulting 2 vs 1 to round the Lewes goalkeeper and tap-in at the back post.

With the game out of sight Lewes did not give up and were finally rewarded for an excellent performance when Ollie Sherfield sniffed out a goal from nowhere to claim his first for the 5s.

Next week the 5s have another early game. 10.30am vs Horsham 4 at Falmer Sports Complex.