Men's football news
Written by: Jack
A disappointing performance saw Lewes fall to a 2-0 defeat against Dulwich Hamlet at the Pan. Reports Tom Harper.
Tony Russell named an unchanged side from the 4-1 defeat at Concord Rangers in their previous game, but was able to name Luke Dreher on the bench on his return from injury.
There were few chances of note early on, as Lewes saw plenty of the ball without testing the well-organised visitors.
The first clear-cut opportunity of the game on 15 minutes saw Dulwich take the lead, Ryley Scott making space for himself in the area before squeezing an effort past Nathan Harvey at his near post to send the travelling fans into raptures.
Lewes were struggling to build up any kind of attacking momentum but nearly found an equaliser through Chris Whelpdale, whose looping header from a Samuel Oguntayo cross hit the top of the bar before being cleared.
It was Dulwich’s turn to hit the woodwork minutes later, Josh Shonibare cutting in from the right before seeing his powerful strike cannon off the far post.
Lewes came close to an equaliser just beore the break, Whelpdale finding Ayo Olukoga, who shot just wide from the edge of the area.
Large periods of the second half passed without any meaningful incident, as the visitors defended their lead relatively comfortably without coming close to adding to it.
The Rooks briefly threatened a leveller in the closing stages, forcing a succession of corners and seeing substitute Kalvin Lumbombo-Kalala have two goal-bound efforts from the edge of the area blocked.
Dulwich survived this spell of pressure and doubled their lead on the break with five minutes remaining, Luke Wanadio running onto a ball down the left before nonchalantly passing the ball across Harvey and into the far corner to make it 2-0 and ensure the visitors would be leaving the Pan with all three points.
Lewes will hope to return to winning ways when they travel to Belgium to take on KSK Beveren in the Fenix Trophy on Tuesday, kick-off at 7.45pm (8:45pm CEST).
Lewes: Harvey, Olukoga, Vint, Elliott, Oguntayo, Penney, Pritchard (Dreher 75), Whelpdale (Tamplin 52), Ogunwamide, Moore (Lumbombo-Kalala 53), Wood.
Unused Subs: Murtagh, Salmon.
Booked: Olukoga.
Dulwich Hamlet: Constable, Okpolokpo, Braham-Barrett, Ricketts, Chambers, Wanadio, Scott, Mills (Clifton 69), Krasniqi, Shonibare, Parry.
Unused Subs: Allen, Hansson, Tarh, Bonnett-Johnson.
Booked: Braham-Barrett, Shonibare.
Attendance: 1,118