Men's football news
Written by: Joe
Lewes FC Men’s first team coach Bryan Nzinga says the squad “need to focus on ourselves” following Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat to top of the league Dover Athletic, writes Lily Perrill.
The Rooks found themselves 2-0 down within 11 minutes at the Dripping Pan and, after enduring a tough half against a side firing on all cylinders, it was 3-0 at the break.
“I think if we’re brutally honest with ourselves the first half was very disappointing,” says Nzinga.
“Sometimes forget tactics; when you play football you have to work hard, you have to push yourselves, show you’ve got 100% commitment, be honest about your graft with and without the ball and at the end of the day you can then focus on those other things. But at the moment if we don’t do the basics right in every position, it’s not looking the greatest.”
The second half saw much improvement, with captain Danny Bassett clawing one goal back in the 60th minute, but the knockout blow had already been dealt and, unfortunately, Lewes couldn’t scrape any points from the game.
“The second half looked much better,” adds Nzinga. “They got a firm talking to at half time, which was rightfully deserved because obviously the form right now is not the greatest and we have to be brutally honest with ourselves, and as a management team we are doing everything that we can to review and reflect.”
The coach also gave an insight into what training will look like for the squad in the build-up to Saturday’s league fixture against Canvey.
“I think definitely we’ll take the stuff from the second half, in terms of whether it’s building when we get to the midfield, or I think we need to address the obvious errors that are being made right now at training,” he says.
“Yes, we will look a bit at Canvey and what they do, but I think at the moment we’ve got to focus on ourselves and get the fundamentals right, just so we can get back into the form that we were in at the start (of the season).”
Nzinga also assessed the importance of securing a win over Canvey, a side who are only separated from the Rooks by one point.
“Yeah, it’s massive,” he adds. “Every game is an important game, every game is a huge game. The league table is so tight but as long as we focus on ourselves and do what we need to do best, we will stand in good stead. But that starts with the basics, the fundamentals.”
Lewes FC Men vs Canvey Island kicks off at 3pm on Saturday. You can still buy tickets for the game here: Lewes vs Canvey tickets
Words: Lily Perrill