Men's football news
Written by: Joe
Lewes FC Men’s manager Craig Nelson says he was happy to take all three points from Saturday’s hard earned 1-0 victory over Hendon at the Dripping Pan – and is looking forward to playing his local team Dulwich Hamlet this weekend, reports Jayden Broderick.
In an evenly-matched encounter last week, it was Danny Bassett’s goal early in the second half that was enough for Lewes to come away with the spoils.
“I’ll take the points over the performance,” says Nelson. “We were good in flashes and if we can keep a clean sheet, we’ll always pose a threat at the opposite end of the pitch. It was a well worked goal, we caught them in transition where we identified that they can be weak in the back three, and Bas (Bassett) executed like he’s done all season.”
It was Marcus Sablier who was key to the winning goal, claiming the ball high up the pitch before setting up Bassett. Sablier, who was switched to a more advanced position for the Hendon match, and Matt Warren, who switched from defence to midfield, both impressed the boss with their efforts.
“Marcus is fantastic at regaining the ball. One of, if not the best, in the team at that, and Matty is everywhere. He’s all action and the way they (Hendon) play they try to get it into their frontman often and we felt that Matty being in around the second would be the difference. Marcus being up the pitch gives us a bit more energy going forward, so on paper it was perfectly executed.”
New signing Bobby Unwin also made his home debut for Lewes in Saturday’s victory, bringing on much-needed energy on the right wing to cause trouble to the Hendon defence.
“It was a good win, I’m very happy and can have a nice weekend now,” says Unwin. “I love it (the Dripping Pan), you can hear the fans everywhere in the stadium. I only got around 35 minutes but I loved every minute of it. Hopefully I can play well for the rest of the season, score some goals and get some assists and take that into next season.”
The match also saw the return of Parish Muirhead, who was out for two months due to injury. “It was good to be back,” says Muirhead. “I’ve never really had a long-term injury, but it felt right out there, and it was good to get the three points.”
The Rooks will look to build on the win as they travel to South London this weekend to face Dulwich Hamlet, who in the reverse match at the Pan earned a last-minute penalty to deny Lewes all three points.
“I can walk there! It’s nice and local,” says Nelson. “It’ll be a tough game. We should’ve won the game (at the Pan) but it takes all 90 plus nowadays to get over that hurdle.”
Words: Jayden Broderick