Men's football news
Written by: Stuart
Lewes FC men defeated Burgess Hill Town 3-0 to register a six-point bank holiday weekend across back-to-back home fixtures at The Dripping Pan, reports Daniel Lloyd.
Second-half goals from Ian Gayle, Kaan Bennett and substitute Walter Figueira gave Lewes the edge over their local rivals, in the first match between the two Sussex sides since 2019.
The Rooks approached Monday’s encounter looking to maintain the positive momentum instilled by their 2-1 victory over Potters Bar Town just 48 hours prior.
However, newly promoted Burgess Hill Town started strongly, gaining periods of possession and testing Lewes goalkeeper Louis Rogers, who was at full stretch to prod the first corner of the match away from danger.
Well-timed blocks from Jack Burchell and Rooks captain Gayle helped keep the scores even, while the best chance for Lewes came when Charlie Walker’s direct free kick whistled just over the bar.
Lewes manager Bradley Pritchard made two changes in midfield at the break, Devonte West coming on for Arezki Hamouchene and Philippines international Mark Swainston replacing Finlay Chadwick.
Two minutes into the opening half, Lewes broke the deadlock from a corner as Gayle beat his markers in the air to nod the ball past Burgess Hill goalkeeper Roco Rees from close range.
This helped shift momentum in the Rooks’ favour, while Pritchard’s full use of the substitutes bench helped keep his team fresh on a busy weekend of football played in high temperatures.
The second goal came on 72 minutes when Kaan Bennett, a persistent threat in midfield, found space at the near post to head Jabari Christmas’ corner into the net.
Lewes then sealed all three points in the 86th minute when a surging Billie Clark played the ball through to fellow substitute Walter Figueira, who calmly found the bottom-right corner.
Rogers still had some work to do in the closing minutes to earn his second clean sheet of the young season, first using his fingertips to prevent an awkward looping cross from entering the net and then confidently punching away a corner.
The result marked Lewes’ fourth win in a row and elevated the team to fourth in the Isthmian League Premier Division standings.
Bradley Pritchard, Lewes FC men’s manager spoke after the game:
“It’s so important to build the momentum, I keep saying that. Reacting in the right way. Burgess Hill are a really good team. You could see in the first half, we were all over the place. I thought they had the better of us. We were almost waiting for something. The most important element of the first half was that we went into the break 0-0. We were able to regroup; a couple of home truths were said. We got a really good reaction. Some great performance, by the boys who started and the boys who came on. Overall, really happy.
“[Burgess Hill’s] movement was really difficult to try to intercept. So we had to try and push them higher, forcing them to try and play longer and then for us try to pick up the second ball. I thought that was a positive change for us. Then, we made a couple of personnel changes at half-time. It’s the second game in 48 hours. With the way we play, I think there are certain positions where boys get tired, because we’re asking a lot of them. It’s important to freshen it up. The players who came on made a real difference.”
Next up for the Rooks on Saturday, 30th August is a trip to Buckinghamshire to visit Southern League Division One Central side Flackwell Heath in the first qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup.
The next men’s match at The Dripping Pan is on Saturday, 6th September against Cray Wanderers. Click here for tickets.
Lewes: Rogers, Asiedu, Bernal, Gayle © (Clark 81’), Morgan (Erskine 65’), Chadwick (Swainston 46’), Walker (Figueira 82’), Hamouchene (West 46’), Christmas, Bennett, Burchell
Burgess Hill Town: Rees, Price (Theodore 77’), Morrison, Lawson (Chalaye 60’), Allen, Spinks, Vorster, Rowe ©, Pope, Box (Gbolahan 77’), Worrall (Perez 60’)
Player of the match: Kaan Bennett
Attendance: 1,352