Men's football news
Written by: Stuart
Ten-man Lewes fell to a 3-1 defeat at Hornchurch, despite taking an early lead in Essex, reports Tom Harper.
Tony Russell made two changes to the side that beat Cray Wanderers 2-0 in their previous game, with Bradley Pritchard and Casey Pettit replacing Tom Phipp, who picked up an injury in the warm-up, and Ollie Tanner in the starting line-up.
The Rooks started brightly and took the lead after only six minutes, as Michael Klass won the ball in midfield and Deshane Dalling gathered possession before sending a shot from the edge of the area past Joe Wright and in off the post.
The hosts had produced an impressive display on their visit to the Pan earlier in the season and soon began to create opportunities, with the unmarked Nathan Bertram-Cooper heading a Tom Wraight free-kick over the bar.
Hornchurch equalised on 19 minutes, as Liam Nash ran onto a long ball forward and steered the ball past Lewis Carey for Charlie Ruff to finish from almost on the line.
Lewes were then forced into two substitutions in quick succession, with Tom Carlse and Razz Coleman De-Graft both picking up injuries and being replaced before the half-hour.
Despite this, Lewes battled well and were able to restrict Hornchurch to very few chances of note for much of the remainder of the half.
Unfortunately for the Rooks, the hosts were awarded a penalty in first-half injury-time as Kenneth Yao, introduced in place of De-Graft, was adjudged to have handled an attempted through-ball in the area.
Wraight struck the penalty emphatically into the roof of the net to give Hornchurch the lead at half-time.
A tough task for Lewes against the league’s form team became even more difficult early in the second half, as Mitchell Nelson was shown a red card for violent conduct after a clash with a Hornchurch defender.
The Rooks regrouped and performed admirably to stay in the game for much of the second half, with Carey virtually untroubled in goal, only being called into action once to deny Ellis Brown.
Lewes could even have equalised when Joe Taylor made space for himself in the area, but sent his shot from a tight angle over the bar.
Hornchurch doubled their lead and secured the three points with six minutes remaining through substitute Ola Ogunwamide, who ran onto an inch-perfect pass from Ruff and sent a superb finish across Carey and into the bottom corner.
Carey had to be alert in the closing stages to help an Ollie Muldoon strike round the post, with Lewes unable to turn some impressive spells of possession into clear-cut opportunities.
The Rooks will hope to put this result behind them when they welcome East Thurrock United to the Pan on Saturday, kick-off at 3pm.
Hornchurch: Wright, Sutton, Clark, Bertram-Cooper, Wraight, Muldoon, Joseph (Onokwai 89), Nash, Brown, Ruff (R. Winn 89), Spence (Ogunwamide 74).
Unused Sub: G. Winn.
Booked: Spence.
Lewes: Carey, Spencer, Carlse (Allen 21), Salmon, Nelson, Klass, Pettit, Pritchard (Weaire 50), De-Graft (Yao 27), Dalling, Taylor.
Unused Subs: Hall, Gillies.
Booked: Allen.
Sent off: Nelson
Attendance: 662 (approximately 50 travelling Rooks)