Lewes Men's 2s Draw 5-5 with Eastbourne Men's 3s

FIXTURE: Sussex Div 2
HOME TEAM: Lewes Men's 2s 5 (Anderson, Cooke, Daniels 2, Rideout )
AWAY TEAM: Eastbourne Men's 3s 5

Lewes Mens 2s took on Eastbourne in a 2nd vs 3rd battle that turned out to be an epic 10 goal thriller.

With Simon Bullmore sidelined, Peter Thomas resting and Seb Daniels struggling with a bad back, Lewes’s starting line up contained 10 under 21s but this didn’t deter them as they put early pressure on an experienced Eastbourne team. However an early breakaway and a smart finish put Eastbourne 1-0 in the first 10 minutes.

Lewes quickly rallied and levelled as Joe Rideout caused havoc in the circle and bundled home. Feeling buoyed from the leveller, Lewes pushed forward though smart passing and movement in the midfield from Oli Loader, Charlie Reynolds and Matt Denham.

The midfield pressure soon paid off as Sam Rea found Rideout down the left side - with seemingly nowhere to go, Rideout spotted Sam Anderson galloping into the D and smashed a cross that Anderson deflected one handed into the top right.

Now playing champagne hockey, Lewes surged forward and started winning penalty corners, for the second of which Daniels sidestepped the first runner and powered the ball past the keeper.

With a minute left in the first half, another pacy Lewes attack saw the ball played to Harry Davenport on the p-spot with just the keeper to beat... sadly the ball ended up over the back fence. Oh well, 3-1 up at half time... surely that was the game won...

...think again. Despite Captain Chewy and Coach Bullmore's words of warning about ensuring a strong start to the second half... the opening 10 minutes saw Lewes concede 4 goals on the bounce, the highlight being a pinpoint back pass to an Eastbourne centre forward from the otherwise faultless Jamie Cooke and a 5 metre sliding foul from Sam Rea resulting in a p-flick and a 10 minute yellow. Only strong keeping from debutant Billy Palmer in goal kept the score down to 5.

Whilst fielding a young side may have its down sides in terms of experience, one benefit is the never give up attitude and energy every week. At 5-3 down, with 15 minutes left, Lewes rallied with the defence of Jamie Neil, Jamie Cooke, Eddie Casselden and Gui Green moving the bell forward early. One such long pass fell to Daniels in the D but his shot was blocked on the line by an Eastbourne foot. Daniels stepped up and converted the resulting penalty stroke and suddenly there was hope.

Lewes now swarmed all over the Eastbourne defence with Rideout, Davenport, Oli Amos and Chewy linking up well. Again the ball fell to Chewy in the D; this time the Eastbourne keep saved well but Jamie Cooke latched onto the clearance quickly and redeemed his early mistake by slotting the ball smartly into the side of the goal.

At 5-5 with 3 minutes to play, Chewy called for the team to drop off and keep a precious point. However Rideout and Davenport had different ideas and Davenport was left one vs one with the keeper only for Eastbourne to scramble the ball away and settle for a point too.

With first placed Worthing 2s next week, Lewes 2s will need to ensure they keep their concentration for the whole game but should be proud of their persistence and the never give up attitude they showed.

Mom: Joe Rideout for his skill, craft and work rate upfront.

MATCH REPORT: Sebastian Daniels