Men's football news
Goals from
Jonte Smith and Leon Redwood helped Lewes to a comfortable victory over local
rivals Hastings in a competitive Boxing Day derby at the Pan reports Tom Harper.
Darren
Freeman named an unchanged side after the impressive 1-0 win at Sittingbourne
on Saturday, with matchwinner Billy Medlock having to settle for a place on the
bench against his former club.
There were
few chances of note early on, with both sides struggling to put together any
dangerous passages of play.
The first
real chance of the game saw Lewes take the lead, as Ronnie Conlon was fouled in
the penalty area by former Rook Jack Dixon at the end of a purposeful run down
the left.
Jonte Smith
coolly converted the penalty, waiting for Charlie Horlock to move to his right
before calmly rolling the ball to the goalkeeper’s left to put the Rooks in
front after 24 minutes.
The visitors
nearly equalised immediately, but saw a Sam Beale free-kick from the left
headed over the bar by a combination of Ollie Rowe and Ansu Janneh.
Lewes had
the final chance of the half, with Omarr Lawson having a 25-yard strike pushed
round the post by Horlock.
Hastings
made a brighter start to the second half but were still finding it difficult to
test Chris Winterton, as Davide Rodari missed the target with a curling effort
from the edge of the area.
The Rooks
were beginning to see more of the ball though, and doubled their lead through
Leon Redwood after 59 minutes, as the left-back on loan from Eastbourne Borough
sent a superb free-kick from the right-hand side of the area across Horlock and
in off the underside of the bar.
This goal
unsurprisingly gave Lewes a boost, with Conlon curling a strike just wide of
the far post after cutting in from the left.
To their
credit, Hastings refused to let their heads drop, and saw Calum Davies hit the
side-netting from close-range before having a cross-shot from the right helped
round the near post by Winterton minutes later as they looked to find an
unlikely route back into the game.
Lewes nearly
made the most of this by scoring a third goal late on, only to see Gus Sow hit
the bar from the edge of the area after some excellent build-up play down the
left.
The visitors
continued to push for a way back into the game late on, but saw Sam Adams miss
the target from distance and Tom Climpson have a goal-bound header blocked by
Steve Brinkhurst in the closing stages.
This was an
impressive win for Lewes, who always looked in control after taking a
first-half lead without necessarily being at their best.
Post-match Darren spoke about the win and the attitude of the players to Barry Collins.
The Rooks will
hope to build on this result when they host South Park on Saturday, kick-off at
3pm.
Lewes: Winterton, Brinkhurst, Redwood,
Hammond, Chappell, Wilson, Lawson, Sow, Smith (Medlock 75), Conlon (Brotherton
80), Coppola.
Unused Subs: Hurley, Reed, Barclay.
Booked: Lawson.
Hastings United: Horlock, Dixon, Beale, Crutwell,
Rowe, Climpson, Rodari (Walker 52), Adams, Davies, Janneh (Lovatt 57), Golding
(Pogue 65).
Unused Subs: Pritchard, Walker, Pogue.
Booked: None.
Referee: Jamie Wells
Attendance: 802