New look Men's 3s lose to Crawley

With plenty of new faces in the team and a desire to get back to winning ways Lewes opened with their best 10 minutes of hockey played this season. Crawley’s defence proved solid with end-to-end retaliation when the opportunity presented for both teams. Lewes scored first, a transfer across the top of the D, driven in by Bentley and Pulley resulting in a simple tap in for Sherwood (1-0). A much-improved Short Corner routine resulted in a near opportunity for Lewes. With Lewes pressing hard for another goal, Crawley broke the midfield and defensive line leaving a 1-on-1 with Goalie Billy Palmer. Crawley took their opportunity and equalised as they came to the end of the half.

The 2nd half carried on in a similar fashion, but Crawley had the majority of the play stretching the Lewes defensive prowess of Fewster, Green and Palmer. Two strongly defended short corners and yet another cracking save from Palmer kept the game equal. Creative midfield play and link up between Sanders, Matthews, Casselden, Pulley and Bentley found Reed at CF on a few occasions but no goals prevailed. Another quick break saw Crawley attacking in the Lewes D and with some confusion/expectation of a whistle due to players on the floor Crawley struck the backboard and crept into the lead (1 – 2). With 10 minutes to go Lewes worked 2 short corners and 3 attacking plays but the Crawley defence stood firm. Final score Lewes 1 Crawley 2.

Overall the game showed promise for a new looking Men’s 3s team and we hope to build on this for our battle in Hastings next weekend. Dunlop was awarded Player of the match with 6 others getting nominated - Green, Sanders, Fitch, Casselden, Palmer and Matthews – highlighting the industrious work rate throughout the game.

Report by Tom Cassleden