Lewe Men's 1s struggle to find form

...from them by a couple of minutes of sloppy defending and an inability to put the ball in the back of the net.

The first ten minutes were played in the Lewes half but solid defence kept Oxford at bay and gradually Lewes gathered confidence and launched their own attacks. James Fuller and Jonny Rea used their speed on the wings to take the ball down to the Oxford line and whilst the ball was delivered into the Oxford circle nobody stepped forward to intercept and score. The fact that in this period Lewes won four penalty corners showed that the effort was there but, even with the benefit of the penalty, they could not find a way into the Oxford goal. At the end of the half a yellow card deprived Lewes of the services of Tom Stratford as he was deemed to have raised his stick too high when taking an aerial ball and poor defending then allowed Oxford to score twice against the run of play.

The second half was more even in terms of possession but Lewes always looked dangerous with strong performances by skipper, Matt Needle, Mike Newman and Alex Baxter ensuring that Lewes kept control of the mid-field. It was not enough and, despite another two penalty corners, Lewes were unable to find the goal and reduce the deficit.

The next few games are crucial if Lewes are to survive in this league. They have played the top four sides and if they cannot take the points against less demanding opposition then relegation is something they will have to face. On Saturday they are away to London Wayfarers.