16/11/09

Lewes manager Steve Ibbitson refused to make excuses after Saturday’s defeat at Eastleigh, but looked forward to next week’s re-match in the FA Trophy by claiming: “We’ve got another six players to throw into the mix.”

Lewes lost the services of Andy Pearson during the warm-up and along with Anthony Barness and Danny Cullip on the injury list, and Dan Royce, Jack Walder and Ryan Storrie all suspended, Ibbitson will hope for an improved performance on Saturday.

Ibbitson said “We don’t make excuses but we’ve had six players out today, although the young players in today did well.”

“We conceded a poor own goal today but in fairness Eastleigh didn’t have too many other chances. It’s a poor goal to give away especially after two minutes and we were chasing the game a bit after that.”

“Scott [Manning] conceded the own goal and there’s a danger that a young 17 year old would go to pieces after that, but he’s picked himself up and he’s done well. We’ve got a lot to be proud of with some of the players we’ve got here.”

As in previous matches, the Rooks were a bit shy in the box but Ibbitson knows it’s an area that needs some attention. “We knew we could go out there and compete,” he said, “but unfortunately, again, we didn’t have a massive goal threat.”

“We had couple of chances in the first half but we didn’t really get much into the box, and didn’t look like scoring, despite the fact that we had quite a lot of possession particularly in the first half.”

“We need to work with front players and get something going in the box. I feel that we’ve done well and competed with every side we’ve played but the difference is in the box.”

“We don’t want to come out to places like this and get 0-0 draws. We want to attack teams and score goals. At the moment, for all the play that we’re having - and we are playing good football - we’re not creating loads of chances and we need a bit more, particularly upfront.”

As for the FA Trophy match, Ibbitson said “Hopefully we’ll have more players to choose from. We didn’t know a lot about them but they’ve played the same team for the last four games.”

“Eastleigh didn’t really offer much either but they got their goal. They score a lot of goals from set pieces. They’ve got six or seven players over six foot and they can be dangerous from those positions at set pieces. I felt we’d dealt with that though and to lose to a goal like that is disappointing.”

“We’ve got another six or so players to throw into the mix that they’ve not seen so hopefully that will stand us in good stead next week.”