Men's football news
Written by: Jack
Lewes climbed to ninth in the table with a comfortable 3-0 win over nine-man Potters Bar on a bitterly cold afternoon at the Pan.
Tony Russell made one change to the side that drew 1-1 at Cray Wanderers in their previous game, with Tommy Wood replacing Bradley Pritchard in the starting line-up.
Lewes made a bright start, moving the ball quickly to try and stretch the visitors.
Their first opening of the game fell to Chris Whelpdale, who saw his deflected strike from the edge of the area drop just wide with goalkeeper Laurence Shala beaten.
The resulting corner fell to Ronnie Vint who teed up Kalvin Lumbombo-Kalala to strike at goal. His powerful attempt appeared to hit the arms of at least two defenders, but the referee ignored the vociferous appeals for a penalty and waved play on.
Lewes were handed an advantage midway through the half, as Calvin Dickson was shown a straight red card for the visitors after catching Archie Tamplin on the head with a high foot.
The Rooks made the most of their numerical advantage on 25 minutes, Lumbombo-Kalala making space for himself before sending a superb curling strike from 25 yards past Shala and into the bottom corner.
Potters Bar stuck to their task though, and were unfortunate to see a close-range header deflected onto the top of the bar as they pushed for an equaliser.
Lewes doubled their lead on 34 minutes, Tommy Wood scoring from the penalty spot after Ola Ogunwamide had been tripped by Prosper Keto in the area.
The visitors were reduced to nine men just before half-time, as Keto was shown a second yellow card in less than ten minutes to hand the Rooks an even greater numerical advantage.
They nearly made the most of this with the final action of the half, only for Lumbombo-Kalala to shoot over the bar after excellent play down the right by Ogunwamide.
Lewes introduced Marcus Sablier and Ryan Gondoh from the bench at half-time as they continued their comeback from injury.
The Rooks extended their lead seven minutes into the second half, as an Ogunwamide cross from the left hit the inside of the far post and bounced clear as far Sanchez Ming, whose powerful half-volley went under Shala and into the back of the net.
The remainder of the game saw Lewes dominate possession and continue to look like adding to their lead, without creating any clear-cut opportunities.
The best chances fell to Arthur Penney, who drew a superb save from Shala with a close-range half-volley after being picked out by Tamplin, before glancing a Jake Elliott cross just wide barely a minute later.
Lewes were unable to add to their lead in the closing stages, but will be more than happy with a 3-0 win that continues their recent good run and helps them climb to ninth in the table.
Next up for the Rooks is a trip to Essex on Monday night to take on Hashtag United, kick-off at 7.45pm.
Lewes: Harvey, Ming, Vint, Elliott, Oguntayo, Penney, Tamplin, Whelpdale (Sablier 46), Ogunwamide (Moore 67), Lumbombo-Kalala (Gondoh 46), Wood.
Unused Subs: Olukoga, Pritchard.
Booked: Ogunwamide.
Potters Bar Town: Shala, Fernandes, Keto, Hervel (Babalola 73), Hayles, Bello (Currie 23), Rose, Adams, Goather-Braithwaite (Adaja 56), Dickson, Gebrai.
Unused Subs: Chaney, Thomas.
Booked: Dickson.
Sent off: Dickson, Keto.
Attendance: 929