Men's football news
An early
goal from Charlie Coppola helped Lewes move three points clear at the top of
the Bostik South with a hard-fought win over Phoenix Sports on a bitterly cold
night at the Pan reports Tom Harper.
Darren
Freeman made four changes to the side that lost 3-1 to Truro in the FA Trophy
in their previous game, with Lloyd Cotton, Gus Sow, Ronnie Conlon and Jonte
Smith replacing Matt Hurley, Bouwe Bosma, Jamie Brotherton and Wilf Grimaud in
the starting line-up.
Lewes
enjoyed plenty of possession early on, but were unable to create any clear-cut
chances against a well-organised Phoenix Sports side.
Despite
this, the Rooks were able to take the lead after 14 minutes through Charlie
Coppola, who cut inside from the right and sent what appeared to be an over-hit
cross-shot over Steve Phillips in the visitor’s goal and into the top corner.
Lewes came
close to doubling their lead minutes later, as Ronnie Conlon saw a close-range
effort deflected over the diving Phillips by a covering defender and bounce
just wide after good play down the left from Matthew George.
The Rooks
were playing some excellent football at this stage and saw Lloyd Cotton volley
a Gus Sow corner just wide of the upright at the near post as the visitors
struggled to gain a foothold in the game.
The best
chance Lewes had to extend their lead came just after the half-hour mark, with
Billy Medlock being denied by a fine double-save from Phillips.
The visitors
had their first notable effort on goal just before the break, with Chris
Winterton comfortably holding onto a long-range strike from Christie Pattison.
Lewes were
continuing to look dangerous going forward though, and saw Coppola just miss
the target with a curling effort from the edge of the area at the end of an incisive
counter-attack.
Having
dominated the first half, the Rooks made a slow start to the second, enabling
Phoenix Sports to see more of the ball and start to create opportunities of
their own.
The best of
these fell to Tony Robinson and Jeff Duah-Kessie, but both just missed the
target with powerful efforts from the edge of the area within minutes of each
other.
Lewes were
struggling to play the passing game that saw them control the game up to
half-time, but still posed an occasional threat going forward, with Conlon
seeing a strike from the edge of the area deflected onto the bar before
Phillips pushed the loose ball onto the roof of the net.
The Rooks
were given an excellent opportunity to secure the points in the closing stages
when substitute Jamie Brotherton was fouled in the area by Conrad Lee as he cut
inside from the left.
Brotherton
took the penalty himself, but saw his well-struck spot-kick superbly tipped
onto the bar by Phillips to keep the visitors in the game.
Lewes saw
out the remainder of the game, including four minutes of stoppage time, fairly
comfortably to record a hard-fought win against a Phoenix Sports side who won
at second-place Corinthian Casuals as recently last week.
After the match, Darren spoke to Barry Collins about the win.
The Rooks
will hope to take the positives from this performance and result into their
trip to Greenwich Borough on Saturday, kick-off at 3pm.
Lewes: Winterton, Brinkhurst, George,
Hammond (Brotherton 61), Chappell, Cotton, Smith (Landais 69), Sow, Medlock,
Conlon, Coppola.
Unused Subs: Hurley, Reed, Izuchukwu.
Booked: Cotton.
Phoenix Sports: Phillips, Lee, Probets, Hopkins,
Young, Mingle, Carvalho, Robinson, Duah-Kessie, Ansah (D. Phillips 83),
Pattison (Ogboe 86).
Unused Sub: Bryon.
Booked: Probets, Hopkins, Robinson.
Referee: Graeme Ions.
Attendance: 258