Men's 1s stunned by Sevenoaks drubbing

It was bought about partly because the opposition were highly trained, with promotion back to the National League a distinct possibility, and partly because Lewes, with some young players in the side, did not know how to respond to the bombardment to which they were subjected for eighty minutes.

For the opening ten minutes there was no sign of the complete domination that was to follow. Lewes put together some encouraging attacks and the game flowed back and forth until Sevenoaks were awarded a penalty corner. The power of the flick into the back of the net showed that this was to be a feature of their game-plan and they won four more penalty corners in the half converting two of them into goals. These penalties were a direct result of the pressure that was put on the Lewes defence and they seemed incapable of clearing their lines to develop any counter attack. There was one open play goal to give Sevenoaks a four goal half time advantage.

It only took a couple of minutes for Sevenoaks to show they were not going to sit back on their lead as they made nonsense of the Lewes defence to score a simple goal passing the ball round keeper Rory Jervis. He was put under further pressure and in the course of the half six penalty corners were awarded to Sevenoaks three of which resulted in direct or rebound goals and one which became a penalty stroke. At the other end Lewes did manage to get a penalty corner of their own but this ended without any strike on goal having been played. One other free play goal gave Sevenoaks their well-deserved ten goal victory.

Hopefully Lewes learned a lesson about the elements of play they will have to develop to be able to take on sides such as Sevenoaks. On Saturday they have another home fixture and are playing Oxford Hawks – 1.30 at the Southdown Sports Club.