Men's 1s shown up by Staines

Players and supporters alike felt frustration after this game because Lewes showed they had the armoury to win but gave it away with passing errors and failure to capitalize on good attacking positions.

Staines opened the scoring with an early goal following the failure of the Lewes defence to clear properly and the ball just drifted into the goal. However the response was immediate and Mike Newman took the ball from Staines and ran deep into the half before crossing to James Fuller for him to score with a fine reverse stick shot. Lewes then continued to play good hockey but were unable to convert goal line pressure and a break away by Staines saw them score in the scramble that followed a penalty corner. Once again the Lewes response was swift and Jonny Rea ran down the left wing before putting in a perfect cross to Gaston Golstein only for him to be bought down by the defence. A penalty stroke was awarded and Golstein made no mistake with shot. Lewes continued to look threatening but just before half time a Staines player went through a series of half-hearted tackles and was allowed to run the length of the pitch before passing into the circle for an easy goal.

The second period saw much of the same with Lewes launching attack after attack into the Staines half only to lose the ball through basic mistakes. Every now and again Staines were able to counter and it was following another breakaway that they were awarded a penalty corner which they worked into goal. Lewes responded with a penalty corner of their own and Golstein took the ball from a slip to the left to beat the keeper with a good shot. It was too little – too late and Lewes now go into consecutive matches against two of the league’s top sides. The first is away on Saturday against Old Georgians.