Crawley no match for unbeaten threes

Your match reporter: Tom Casselden

An unusually hot day, some confusion as to the whereabouts of the kit bag and a long drive meant a poor start for the threes with Crawley opening the scoring early. A stark wake-up call for the men in green to engage hockey brains and stop playing in the sand.

With the midfield team of Boyland, Lancaster, Smart and Casselden starting to find width it didn’t take long for the forward contingent to start asserting some force in the Crawley D. With Plail finding some space, a beast of a shot deflected off the keepers stick to pull Lewes back even.

Lewes pressure continued but the slower pace of the heavily sanded pitch and some sloppy passing kept Crawley in the game with some quick breaks. Hughes, again, making some key saves with the support of Picken, Damon and Youngman kept the offensive away.

A reformed George Martin, now understanding the benefit of passing to Green players, not just the opposition, linked poetically with Plail to claim another deflection off the keeper, to make it 2-1 to Lewes. Crawley broke once again allowing both teams to take 2 goals each into halftime.

The ‘back to basics’ message at halftime worked wonders as Lewes started to exhibit their usual composure across the ranks. Webster, Martin, Smart linked once again for Plail's 3rd of the game.

A green card for Izzard allowed Crawley to regain momentum and, after a scrap in the D, with 8 minutes to go it looked like a draw.

One final push saw determination, grit and perseverance across the team result in Plails 4th goals - a precision push to the backboard from the right flank.

4 wins on the bounce for the 3’s but, next week, the 3’s face second in the league Mid Sussex 2’s, for a top of the table clash.

MOM: Plail.