Dominant Lewes Men's 2s avenge last season to defeat St Francis 5-0

LEAGUE: Sussex Div 2
HOME TEAM: Lewes Men’s 2s :- 5 (Rideout x3, Fuller, Daniels)
AWAY TEAM: St Francis Mens 1s :- 0

Lewes Men’s 2s were full of confidence going into their home game vs a potentially tricky opponent in St Francis 1s who, in the previous season, had done the double over the 2s. Before the whistle there was huge motivation in getting revenge for recent past meetings.
 
From the off Lewes dominated possession with St Francis struggling to string many passes together whilst their strikers had hardly a whiff of the ball.

This was down to Lewes’ 4-3-3 formation, which the team implemented perfectly, dominating the St Francis 4-4-2 . A special mention should go to the inside midfielders Drew Wain, Matt Denham and Oli Loader who forced St Francis to play long ball hockey.

Once the ball was won, Lewes still had to break down the sturdy defence of St Francis who intercepted many passes in the first ten minutes because Lewes attacked far too narrowly. Eventually Lewes changed the way they attacked and used the width, with strikers Seb Daniels, Joe Rideout, Pete Fuller and Harry Davenport creating space and winning several penalty corners. One of these corners was eventually converted by a Pete Fuller flick and a Joe Rideout cheeky deflection through the goalkeeper’s legs, 1-0 to Lewes.

Lewes’ dominance continued with St Francis continuing to rely on long ball counter attacks, which the home team’s back four mitigated superbly. Lewes continued to find space in the opposition’s third. A neat one two between Tom Clinch and Seb Daniels at the edge of the D and the ball was smashed back post for Joe Rideout to deflect into the top right-hand corner, 2-0 to Lewes and Rideout was now on for a hat trick.

The first half was coming to a close when again Tom Clinch won the ball in midfield and found Daniels in space just inside the D. Daniels took one touch on the turn and smashed a piledriver home into the top right of the goal. Lewes’ dominance was now starting to be reflected in the score line. Soon after, the half time whistle blew.

The second half started much like the first with Lewes continuing to dominate possession, however the home team struggled to capitalise on any clear goal-scoring opportunities with St Francis improving in their marking and tackling.

Eventually there was a breakthrough with Tom Clinch again winning the ball in midfield, beating two players and pulling the ball back for Joe Rideout to calmly slide under the St Francis keeper: 4-0 and a hat trick for Rideout.

Lewes quickly won another penalty corner and with Pete Fuller determined not to go without a goal, he stepped up and drag flicked the ball with pace into the bottom left corner.

After the 5th goal Lewes could have taken the foot off the pedal and relaxed however with strong words from captains Daniels and Bullmore, from previous weeks, the team continued to press and didn’t allow St Francis space or time on the ball. St Francis eventually had a chance however, with a Lewes foot leading to a St Francis penalty corner. The Lewes defence battled superbly and the final whistle blew shortly after.

A solid 5-0 victory makes it 5 from 5 with 22 goals scored in all competitions. A very impressive performance, even more so from a defensive point of view with the discipline of marking being a huge improvement especially from the younger players.

Man of the Match: Joe Rideout