Lewes Men's 2nd XI turn up the heat

The Lewes men's 2s increased the pressure on league leaders Worthing with a convincing victory against a strong Eastbourne side.

The last time the two teams met 10 goals were shared and Lewes were determined to prove a point going into this unfriendly 10:15 early morning fixture at the Saffrons.

The game started with Lewes in control, dominating possession and threatening in the attack. The fast hands of Joe Rideout helped Lewes earn an early penalty corner, which league top scorer Seb Daniels comfortably slotted home.

With this crucial first goal, the game began to open up with the whole team settling well into the game. 10 minutes in a scaramble in the D between Sam Rea, an Eastbourne defender and the Eastbourne keeper allowed Seb Daniels to pass into an open goal from seven yards to put Lewes 2-0 up.

However, Eastbourne were not to be written off, as the huge aerial of the Eastbourne centre back caught Lewes off guard, and their forwards won a a penalty corner, which was powerfully flicked into the goal. A number of Eastbourne attacks put Lewes on the back foot, and a combination of sensational saves from goalkeeper Billie Palmer kept Lewes ahead.

Lewes responded well to this passage of play, with Seb Daniels scoring from yet another, well worked penalty corner. This is a testament to the development of the 2s over the past season, as last year only 5 penalty corners were scored.

The half ended in deja vu, 3-1 to Lewes. After a good chat and some strong words from captain Chewy, Lewes were determined not to let history repeat itself.

Early on in the second half, despite the run of play being in Lewes' favour, a rare mistake in the defence allowed Eastbourne to quickly latch on to a stray pass and slot home to make the score 3-2. Lewes however were not rattled, and almost instantly came back with an excellently worked goal that saw Sam Rea tackle on the half way line, drive 20 yards at pace, swap passes with Joe Rideout and slam home to restore Lewes’s 2 goal lead.

This seemed to be the goal that killed Eastbourne off, and despite their efforts, could not seem to find a way past a dominant Lewes side. The midfield trio of Oli Loader, Jamie Cooke and Tom Clinch worked tirelessly to supply the forwards, and the constant pressure from the forwards meant that Eastbourne soon found themselves 6-2 down, with goals from Tom Clinch and yet another from Seb Daniels, taking him to a total of 42 for the season.

A competitive game in which both sides can say they played well finished with Lewes on top. They hope to continue this form into a very important game against the top contenders for the league title Worthing next week, in which they will need to stay focused for the entire game.

Match report by: Jamie Cooke

Man of the Match: Jamie Cooke (as voted for by capt Seb Daniels)