Men's football news
A
last-minute goal from Frankie Chappell saw Lewes salvage a point against promotion-chasing
Walton Casuals in a game played in terrible conditions at the Pan reports Tom Harper.
Darren
Freeman named an unchanged side after last week’s impressive 2-1 win at Cray
Wanderers, with the Rooks looking for their fourth consecutive league win.
There were
no chances of note for either team early on, as both sets of players looked to
get accustomed to the torrential rain that was already making it very difficult
to play the ball on the ground.
The visitors
had the first chance of the game midway through the half, as Josh Kelly latched
onto an under-hit pass-back from Frankie Chappell but shot wide with only Chris
Winterton to beat.
Winterton
was forced into his first action of the game minutes later, getting down well
at his near post to help a curling effort from Youseff Bamba behind for a
corner.
After
struggling to create any chances throughout the first half, Lewes enjoyed a
bright spell just before the break, with Gus Sow drawing a smart save from
Denzel Gerrar after a purposeful run into the box.
The Rooks
went close to taking the lead again on the stroke of half-time, but saw James
Hammond’s long-range effort go just over after Casuals had been unable to clear
a corner.
Both sides
struggled with the conditions at the start of the second half as although the
ball was rolling without too many problems on both wings, the centre of the
pitch had become almost unplayable, with any passes around the centre circle
holding up after hours of heavy rain.
Despite
this, the visitors took the lead after 67 minutes through Kelly, who made light
of the egregious conditions by going on a mazy run past several defenders
before sending a fine finish from the left-hand side of the area across
Winterton and into the bottom corner.
With chances
having been few and far between up until this point, Lewes fans could have been
forgiven for thinking that they may find it difficult to find an equaliser,
especially with how well Casuals had defended throughout the game.
If anything,
the visitors continued to look the more likely scorers, as substitute Joshua
Oyinsan sent a powerful effort from a difficult angle straight at Winterton.
Casuals
thought they should have been awarded a penalty with minutes remaining, with
Oyinsan appearing to be pushed after getting in behind the Lewes defence.
Thankfully for the majority of the impressive crowd of 648, referee Daniel
Austin waved play on.
Lewes made
the most of this in the final minute of normal time, as Jonte Smith headed a Leon
Redwood cross from the left back across goal for Chappell to finish from close
range and salvage a point that had seemed unlikely after falling behind midway
through the half.
Both teams
looked to find a winning goal once the game was eventually restarted, with the
visitors convinced Chappell had been in an offside position when he guided the
ball past Gerrar, but there were no clear-cut chances and the spoils were
shared.
After going
behind in such atrocious conditions, this is an impressive point for Lewes, who
showed plenty of character to battle back and score an equaliser that extends
their lead at the top of the Bostik South table to two points, something that wasn’t lost on Darren Freeman when he spoke post-match to Barry Collins.
The Rooks
will hope to build on this when they travel to Dartford FC to take on Thamesmead Town next Saturday,
kick-off at 3pm.
Credit to James Boyes for the picture and the headline.
Lewes: Winterton, Brinkhurst, Redwood,
Hammond (Bosma 57), Chappell, Cotton, Lawson, Sow, Medlock (Smith 56),
Brotherton, Coppola (Conlon 46).
Unused Subs: Reed, Hurley.
Booked: Cotton, Sow.
Walton Casuals: Gerrar, Mills, Ogun, Black, Hicks,
Hustwick, Richardson-Brown (McCormack 90), Coleman, J. Kelly, Sarpong (Oyinsan
46), Bamba.
Unused Subs: A. Kelly, Trigwell, Baldwin.
Booked: Black.
Referee: Daniel Austin
Attendance: 648