Bare 11 Mens 2s Whip Worthing

On a weekend where half of the club seems to be off skiing, hiding under a rock or ill, the Mens 2s traveled to Worthing 3s (or their 2s who are now their 3s… or something like that) for a late afternoon clash with only 11 men.

After last week’s game vs Horsham was “snowed off”, the team was raring to put right the wrongs of a heavy loss to Crawley two weeks prior and started off strongly, maintaining a disciplined press but also causing carnage in the Worthing defence with quick passing and movement.

Soon Tom Clinch threaded a pin point pass through the Worthing midfield to Seb Daniels who accelerated into the circle and smashed a cross to Thomas Wylie to deflect high into the roof of the net. Lovely hockey and a 1-0 after just 7 minutes played. Another lovely move saw Daniels find Wylie down the line and Wylie picked out Jack Searl only to be smothered by the Worthing keeper.

Lewes continued to surge on with Oli Loader, Danny Poulsen and Tom Clinch bossing the midfield and linking up with the forward line. Whilst not a majestic move, a Lewes long corner bobbled into the Worthing circle and Thomas Wylie latched on to pass, powerfully striking the ball in to te bottom right hand corner, scoring his 6th goal in 4 games. 2-0 with 15 minutes played.

This was far from a one sided game though as Worthing soon found their passing rhythm, albeit with a fortuitous touches through midfield but the strong Lewes defence was equal to every challenge, with the outstanding Theo Whiting making three last second interceptions from left back.

Despite Lewes tiring towards the end of the first half and Worthing gaining more confidence, the Lewes defence, controlled by Hamish Middleton and with Hugo Youngman, on his return to the Mens 2s after more than 5 years, held strong giving the rest of the team the platform to attack.

With a quick counter attack Lewes won a short corner… which didn’t quite go to plan, the ball finding its way to Danny Poulsen backing up. Poulsen kept calm and found Tom Clinch in the circle; Clinchy’s eyes lit up and his powerful strike was unlucky not to go in but the ball bobbled its way to Oli Loader to tap in and round off the perfect first half, 3-0.

Going into the second half with a 3-0 lead but only 11 men gave the men in green a precariously balanced situation. Lewes weren’t affected for the first ten minutes as the attack continued to pick apart Worthing and were unlucky not to go further ahead. However, with Lewes legs starting to tire, the Worthing team pulled a goal back, bundling in despite Billie Palmer making an exceptional double save.

Lewes’s heads weren’t to go down though, and the defence wasn’t to be beaten again, making tackle after tackle and Palmer being equal to any shot that came this way. Jamie Cooke, another returning player to the 2s after a successful loan spell upfront for the 3s, continued to boss right back and it was him that started the attack for Lewes’s 4th goal, finding Wylie in the channel, who picked out Clinch, who then found Jack Seal to take on the keeper and bundle in.

Game over with Lewes maintaining a winning record when playing with only 11, with victories over Eastbourne, Crowborough and now Worthing.

MOM: Blillie Palmer, Hugo Youngman, Tom Wylie… and every other player in the team.
DOD: Theo Whiting… headband!

Next week the Mens 2s host South Saxons Mens 2's, looking to continue their good form of 2019.