Men's football news
Written by: Joe
Craig Nelson picked up his Manager of the Month award on Saturday before Lewes FC Men battled out a 1-1 draw with Hastings United to make is seven games unbeaten to start the Isthmian Premier League season.
Danny Bassett scored Lewes’ leveller eight minutes from time when converting after persistent pressure down the Rooks left.
Billy Vigar had given Hastings an early lead at the Dripping Pan in front of 1,402 supporters, while goalkeeper Toby Bull had a relatively quite afternoon apart from the tip Freddie Legg’s long-range effort for a corner.
Bassett had two golden chances to equalise for the Rooks but eventually delivered the goods to maintain Lewes’ lead at the top of the table.
Lewes headed into the game having drawn their last three outings – including two in FA Cup qualifying against Harefield. Still, Pitts earned a deserved Manager of the Month award for August following the five-game winning start to the campaign.
Still unbeaten, Lewes suffered an early setback when Vigar kept his composure to fire past Bull just three minutes in. At that stage many Rooks fans hadn’t even got settled into the Philcox Stand after the players switched ends before kick off.
It turned out being out of the sun was the smart thing to do, as one final blast of summer beat down on East Sussex.
Lewes’ first opening came midway through the first half thanks to Ben Mundele’s mazing run from right-back. The defender evaded a number of challenges before cutting back to Bassett, who dragged his low shot wide.
Hastings goalkeeper Louis Rogers then denied Bassett moments before half time, when rushing out to block the forward’s strike after he’d beaten the offside trap.
The visitors started the second half on the front foot, with George Walker whipping a left-footed shot beyond Bull’s right-hand post. But the Rooks soon got into their groove. Josh Williams and Eddie Allsopp forced Rogers into low saves, while Nabeel Ghannam was inches away from connecting with a Bassett lay-off as Lewes hit on the counter.
Lewes were knocking on the door and finally got their reward on 82 minutes. The goal started with Jack Enkh, who played it down the line for Marcus Sablier to cut inside and spread to Ghannam. He set Shae Hutchinson off down the left, with the substitute hitting the byline before cutting back to Bassett to side-foot home.
Hutchinson had a last-minute chance to grab all three points for the hosts but Rogers got a leg to his one-on-one shot, and the spoils were eventually shared at the Pan.
Next up for Lewes Men is a trip to Bowers & Pitsea FC on Tuesday (7:45pm) before another away game – this time at Potters Bar Town – on Saturday (3pm).
Our next game at the Pan is Sunday’s FA WNL Cup match between Lewes FC Women and Watford (2pm). Tickets for that match are now on sale online.
Lewes XI: Bull, Enkh, Warren, Kaiser, Sablier, Bassett, Allsopp, Allen, Ladapo, Muirhead, Mundele
Subs: Morris, Williams, Ghannam, Hutchinson, Olds