Goalless draw gives Men's 1s vital point

In recent games Lewes have been frustrated conceding late goals when valuable points could have been gained in their fight to avoid relegation.

They had to ride their luck on occasions as Hawks showed why they are near the top of the league. Well organised in defence and quick on the break they always looked likely to break the deadlock. The hosts’ defence was marshalled well by Harvey Waller and Joe Piller as they came under early pressure. Josh Pewter in the Lewes goal made some crucial saves just before half time when Hawks got successive penalty corners. Lewes created little in the first half as Hawks broke down a number of attacks.

In the second half Lewes got back into the game with skipper Matt Clark and James Callaway in midfield seeing a larger share of possession and trying to utilise the speed of James Fuller and Ben Cooke down the flanks. A good run from Fuller saw his cross go flying across the circle with no-one able to convert. As the game became stretched both sides lost players to heavy tackles and at one stage Lewes were down to nine players but changed their formation and survived. With fifteen minutes remaining David Roberts, in an unaccustomed midfield role, released Chris Spruce with a pinpoint cross field pass but he was forced wide and his shot failed to trouble the goalkeeper. With five minutes left Lewes forced their only penalty corner but Waller's strike failed to find a team mate for a deflection and went flashing wide. Hawks sensed they could get a late winner and pushed forward in the final minutes and some powerful crosses from both flanks caused some panic in the home defence but again Pewter made outstanding saves to give Lewes a share of the points.

On Saturday Lewes are away to London Wayfarers, who are a position above them in the league, in a crucial game. Lewes hope defender Matt Rickson will be back in the squad after being injured since before Christmas. Skipper Matt Clark commented " We need to take this result into next Saturday's match. It will be a hard match but if we can keep our discipline and capitalise on any opportunities we create hopefully we can get a vital three points "

Report by Paul Spruce.