Ladies 4s edge out Eastbourne to gain vital win

Lewes had a slow start as Eastbourne flew out of the traps with early possession and good team play from their youngsters but there was some good defending from Lewes, and three good stops from Tess Youngman in goal saw the ball calmly cleared out of the D.

Lewes grew into the game and after twenty one minutes Imogen Wheatley made a fantastic run up half of the pitch. A snap shot at the end was saved but Captain Zoe Richards was at hand to pick up the rebound and sweep it in. Lewes, now with new confidence had a couple of short corners. One had a good interchange between Darcey Gallagher and Sue Storey which saw Sue slotting in the second goal just before half time.

Lewes had an early short corner just after the half time whistle, resulting in a good save by the Eastbourne keeper and it was now a very even battle in midfield. Eastbourne produced a short corner ending in another good save from Tess. Soon after, a good interchange between Imogen and Rhiannon Burgess nearly created another chance for Sue but Eastbourne defended well and pushed away.

Eastbourne scored their only goal of the game 20 minutes into the second half from an attack through the middle creating a one on one with the Lewes keeper.

During the last five minutes Lewes applied pressure and kept the ball at Eastbourne's end of the pitch, winning three short corners. In fact two of those short corners were on the final whistle but they couldn't convert despite the whole team being round the D and the match finished 2-1 to the ladies in green.

Girls of the game were Imogen Wheatley and Steph Masters.

Report by Tania Combs (aka Martin!)