Mens 2s Take Sweet Revenge

After a few losses on the bounce, Lewes Men’s 2’s were low on confidence going into their home game vs Worthing 3s who, in the previous season, had pipped them to the Sussex Div 2 title. Before the whistle there was huge motivation in getting revenge for last season.

The umpires started the game and from the off Lewes dominated possession with Worthing struggling to string many passes together. A perfectly implemented Lewes formation tweak allowed the midfielders of Danny Poulsen, Oliver Wilkinson and Oli Loader to force Worthing to play long ball hockey.

Once the ball was won however Lewes still had to break down the sturdy defence of Worthing with many nice pieces of play only accumulating into wasted short corners or a Worthing 16 - the final finish/pass was all that was missing.

Soon Worthing made a mistake and with a counter attack, Oliver Amos found himself 1 on 1 with the Worthing keeper; full confidence, the team’s top scorer slotted home – 1 nil to the lads in green.

Lewes’s dominance continued, only allowing Worthing to play long ball counter attacks which the back four mitigated superbly. With the ball, Lewes continued to find space in the oppositions third which lead to Danny Poulsen arriving at the back post to flick into the roof of the net, 2-0 and Lewes flying.

The remainder of the half ended with Lewes on top but with a slight frustration that many chances had been created yet the score was only 2-0.

The second half started with a few sloppy passes from Lewes which led to Worthing winning an two early short corners. The second of which was slotted nicely and after all the dominance in the first half Lewes were only 1 goal ahead.

Worthing were now far more confident but the resilient back five of Theo Whiting, Chris Whiting, Tom Voller, Sam Rea, Billie Palmer (GK) and substitute Callum Boyland, stopped Worthing find and way through.

Suddenly Lewes calmed and began to find their rhythm again. And if it weren’t for some outstanding saves from the Worthing GK Lewes would have been 4 or 5 goals to the good.

Finally, Lewes scored a third with Jack Searl slotting home from close after another great move by the forward line of Seb Daniels, Oliver Amos and Sam Anderson. Tom Clinch and the rest of the team could breathe a lot easier now the 2-goal cushion had been restored. With Worthing’s come back deflated, Lewes saw the game out with maturity with the crowd enjoying such a dominant display against a solid Worthing team.

The impressive performance, especially from a defensive point of view with the discipline and passing sees the 2s move above both Worthing sides in the league, represents a return to the great form showed last season and should be a stepping stone in moving up the league.

MOM: Callum Boyland - a strong performance on his 2s debut.
DOD: Tom Clinch - you know why!

Match Report by: Tom Clinch