Men's football news
Written by: Joe
Lewes boss Tony Russell says he’s ready to shake things up for Tuesday’s FA Cup replay with Sheppey United, in an effort to improve his team’s potency in front of goal.
The Rooks remain unbeaten at the start of the season and were held to a 2-2 draw with Sheppey on Saturday, with Joe Taylor and Razzaq Coleman De-Graft popping up with goals in the second half.
It means the two teams will go again on Tuesday at the Dripping Pan. Tickets are still available to buy online and on the door, with the game scheduled for a 7:45pm kick off.
Russell isn’t set on making wholesale changes for the fixture. But he says he’ll use it as an opportunity to make improvements that will aid the team in the long term.
“We might mix it up again on Tuesday because we’ve got a lot of games coming up. A big Saturday-Tuesday schedule, so we might shuffle the pack again for the Sheppey replay,” says Russell.
“When I say shake it up, I’m not going to put in a weakened side. What I might do is change the combinations and try out different things.
“Shake up the combination of the midfield, put a few different people in there, maybe look at the front line combinations. I said to the players we’re so close to being a really good side. You can see it and we’re nearly there. It’s like I’m cooking something and I can taste it, and there’s just something missing.”
Lewes had to pull back the draw at Sheppey after finding themselves 2-0 down. The Rooks have also drawn recent games with Corinthian-Casuals and Hastings.
And Russell isn’t resting on his side’s undefeated start to the season.
“The concerning thing for me is it’s deja vu. We’re playing well but we’re making very hard work for ourselves to score goals,” says Russell.
“I’ve just got to work out whether that’s just a thing we’re going through at the moment or if I maybe possibly need to bring one or two to help that. We can’t be dominating games only to chase them because we can’t put the ball in the net.
“I wasn’t disrespecting Sheppey or the FA Cup but ultimately my priority is the league. So if I’m going to try things out it will be in cup games.
“I know how hard it’s going to be, we’ll have to play well. But also we can’t just mask over cracks.
“We’re unbeaten and I’ve seen it so many times – managers keep rolling out the same players because they’re unbeaten but all of a sudden they lose a couple of games really quickly because they’ve not dealt with the problem.”
Lewes vs Sheppey United tickets
You can buy Lewes FC tickets for the game online and skip the queue at the gate. Ticket prices are as follows:
Adults – £13
Concessions – 8
Kids U16 – Free
Beach Huts – £110