Razzle Dazzle from the Sun , but Lewes only shone when it went

Unfortunately, as glorious as the winter sun was, as it dropped it proved incredibly difficult to identify what colour the shirts were of the players that were standing in the path of it. This led to a first half of mistaken identities, along with a bedding-in period, which ended up giving the opposition a lot more possession and space than they had earnt.

Once the glorious greens had taken the necessary time to settle, and the formations had had time to gel there was some lovely work across the pitch. Lucy Nuttall working her usual magic back on the left flank, linking up beautifully with Gabi Shaw – in her inaugural game for the 3’s, looking like she had always played with this team. Gabi showed a commendable work rate, and great effort across the pitch – picking up some key defensive spaces, at just the right moment, whilst also running some fabulous supporting lines in attack.

The first half had begun with some gorgeous attacking moves – and a huge amount of pressure on the host’s defenders, which were consistently being split and space found with some utterly divine passes across the front of the goal. Mollie Barrett making some glorious runs both down the middle and the right, along with some almost telepathic work between Sara Riley and Jan ‘Goldie’ Goldsmith down the right. Sara ‘Sharpshooter’ Riley showed some seriously impressive finishing again this week, following her hat-trick last week with another brace this week. Both Sara and Mollie garnering themselves several votes for today’s Player’s Player, missing out on sharing that accolade by only one vote. Also, both linked up with Helen ‘Gubbs’ Fuller (who wins the sartorial award for the day) and great support from Sophia Roberts meant there were overloads o’clock that just desperately needed that final flourish to get the score to reflect the activity on pitch. A penalty flick opportunity, a rare thing, was dealt with admirably by the Brighton goalkeeper – who had to work particularly hard today and did so extremely well until foxed by the indomitable Riley.

Another new face in the 3’s, although her inaugural game was last week, was a fine showing from Lizzie Mounter, who also showed some real fire in her belly – a trait that is super well-received in these quarters. Defensively, there was some work to be done too, and a fine showing from all the backs but the star that shone the brightest, challenging the brightness of the sun, was Freya Colvin. Another superb showing from the newly entitled ‘Legend that is Freya’, keeping a clean sheet and winning herself another Player’s Player award. So much composure and skill exhibited by Freya today, who found her voice beautifully to move the defenders into the right position (sometimes that was just out of her line of sight! * ahem*).

Mia Childs also showed a great work ethic, as always, a joy to have on the pitch despite being shuffled positionally, with good work, appreciation for space and link-up work. A strong squad effort all round saw the right result in the end, and those 3 points are very gratefully received. Onwards and ever-upwards next week, with another cracker which could see us sitting pretty in the table for Christmas.

Player’s Player – Freya Colvin
Bench Driver – Caroline Petty
Photographer – Sophia Roberts