Men's 1s win convincingly

The early exchanges were encouraging for Lewes as they took control in midfield and it was against the run of play when the hosts took the lead after ten minutes. Within minutes parity had been restored when Toby Price rifled home a penalty corner strike for Lewes and soon after they took the lead with another Price penalty corner. Lewes continued to press and with the speed of James Fuller causing Ashford problems they were happy to concede penalty corners but Price was on top form scoring Lewes' and his hat trick after twenty five minutes. Lewes stretched their lead again from another penalty corner as Price drag flicked a fourth to leave Lewes 4-1 up. But just on half time skipper Matt Clark was accidently caught by Matt Rickson's stick after a strong tackle by an Ashford forward leaving him with a deep cut below his chin and concussion. He was taken away by Ambulance to Hospital for stitches.

The loss of Clark unsettled Lewes and Ashford had their best period of pressure early on in the second half but Keeper Ben Berrill made some good saves to keep the scoreline the same. Lewes pushed forward and made the game safe mid way through when youngster Jonny Rea was on the end of a good move to score from close range to make it 5-1. Lewes relaxed in the closing ten minutes and Ashford took advantage to score twice to give the scoreline some respectability.

This victory takes Lewes up to third in the league. Coach Chris Marchant was understandably pleased. "After last week this was just the performance we needed. Toby Price was man of the match with his four goals but the whole team played well as a unit and supported each other. We will have to wait to see if skipper Matt Clark has recovered to play this week but we are optimistic". They face West Hampstead at the Southdown on Saturday at 1.30 pm.

Report by Paul Spruce