Men's football news
Written by: DanielL
Report by Stan Lahood
Lewes men were beaten 2-1 by Suffolk side Leiston in a tight FA Trophy third qualifying round contest at The Dripping Pan.
As the two clubs are members of different leagues on step three of the non-league pyramid, this marked their encounter since 2015, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Before the game kicked off, both clubs came together to observe a minute’s silence following the tragic death of Chichester City player, Billy Vigar.
The thoughts of all at Lewes FC are with Billy’s family, friends and everyone connected to Chichester City.
The opening 15 minutes of the match were quiet, with both sides having spells of possession, but neither able to break the other down.
That was until Lewes lost possession in their own half, Ben Fowkes pouncing and scoring with a great strike in the top right-hand corner from inside the Rooks’ penalty area.
Lewes had a few chances towards the end of the first half from rising levels of possession, with several crosses not finding their man, or cleared well by the Leiston defence.
The second half continued with more of the same, until substitute Arezki Hamouchene played a defence-splitting pass to Devonte West, who faced Leiston keeper Billy Johnson one-on-one and successfully slotted past him into the bottom-left corner.
With both teams neck and neck, it was Leiston’s Adam Mills who broke the deadlock with a brilliant solo goal originating down the left-hand side. Like Fowkes, Mills found the top-right corner to put Leiston ahead.
Lewes had several more chances that tested Johnson, but were ultimately unable to find another equaliser, which sealed the end of the Rooks’ FA Trophy campaign.
Bradley Pritchard’s side are next in action away to Roffey on Tuesday, 7th October in the Sussex Senior Cup.
Lewes: Rogers, Bernal, Burchell, Bowry, Asiedu, Iandolo, Chadwick (Harley 81’), Andrews (Hamouchene 53’), Morgan, Bennett (Walker 70’), West
Subs not used: Gayle, Christmas
Leiston: Johnson, Hill (Rayworth 47’), Dunbar, Callan-McFadden, Jackson, Frostick, Alexander, Clemons (Blois 81’), Mills (McNeill 85’), Jarvis (Manly 70’), Fowkes
Sub not used: Horne
Attendance: 479