Men's football news
Written by: DanielL
Aidan Elve reporting from The Dripping Pan
Lewes men fell to a 5-0 defeat at home against Isthmian League Premier Division leaders Folkestone Invicta.
It was a frustrating Saturday for Lewes who looked promising in the first half, creating chances but ultimately being unable to convert them into goals.
Devonte West was the standout player for the Rooks in the opening 45 minutes, consistently driving forward with the ball, finding his teammates or shooting on goal himself.
Lewes debutant Taurean Roberts thought he had scored in the 11th minute when West played him through, however, the linesman’s flag was raised and the goal was disallowed for offside.
West and Roberts continued to threaten when the former’s shot was parried by Folkestone goalkeeper Ted Collins to the feet of Roberts, who couldn’t direct his shot towards goal.
Folkestone started getting more into the game towards the end of the first half. The Seasiders opened the scoring when a corner was crossed into the box, leading to a goalmouth scramble that was eventually pounced on by Joel Odeniran.
Lewes went into half-time a goal behind, but still well in the game.
In the second half, Folkestone started to show their threat through both wings, but the scoreline remained at 1-0.
That was until the 69th minute, when left-back Montel McKenzie crossed the ball into a good area for Jake Hutchinson to head the ball into the net, doubling the away team’s lead.
The Rooks were close to responding instantly when Roberts picked up the ball on the left side of the pitch and curled his shot almost perfectly into the top-right corner, but it bounced off the post – summing up Lewes’ misfortune on the day.
In the 72nd minute, Folkestone’s number 14, Joe Pigott, played a brilliant pass in behind the defence which was converted well by Hutchinson for his second and Folkestone’s third goal of the game.
In the 82nd minute, the Rooks conceded a penalty through a foul and the spot-kick was converted by Pigott.
Folkestone scored their fifth and final goal of the game in the 94th minute through substitute Jonathan Lawson.
Speaking after the final whistle, Lewes men’s first team manager Craig Nelson said: “It’s a shame that it was such a heavy defeat, in my opinion, because I thought in the first half we were excellent.
“We had three clear-cut chances where, if we score one of those – and score first – the game is different, but unfortunately we didn’t capitalise.
“In the second half, we rolled over after going 2-0 down. We were in the game for large parts of it – and causing them quite a few issues – but we can’t go two-nil behind and then concede the chances that we weren’t conceding earlier on, because they’ve shown why they’re top of the league.”
When asked about moving forward, the gaffer said: “Ultimately it’s three points dropped. [The players] need to make sure they forget this as soon as possible and right this wrong on Tuesday [against Billericay].
“For me, overall, from a personal pride perspective, we needed to do better in a lot of moments, particularly in the end when going two goals down.”
Lewes: Rogers, Kpakpé, Watson, Hamstead, Burchell (Edwards 77′), Christian-Law (c), Muirhead, Allen (Abdsami 75′), Unwin (Jenkins 75′), West, Roberts
Booked: none
Subs not used: Bernal, Ovenden
Folkestone Invicta: Collins, Mason (German 85′), McKenzie, Smith, Odeniran, Lokko (c), Woodyard, Dolan (Berry), Thomas (Kingsford 71′), Pigott, Hutchinson (Lawson 74′)
Booked: Lokko
Subs not used: Earle