Men's football news
Lewes suffered only their second league defeat of the season, as an impressive second-hand display from Carshalton Athletic saw them pick up a 3-2 victory to move to within three points of the Rooks at the top of the Bostik South table reports Tom Harper.
Darren Freeman made one change to the side that beat Ashford United 5-1 two days previously, with Gus Sow replacing Jamie Brotherton in the starting line-up.
There were few chances of note during a relatively uneventful first half, with the hosts seeing plenty of the ball but being unable to test a well-organised Lewes back four.
Despite this, Chris Winterton was the first goalkeeper called into action to help a powerful effort from Mickel Miller round the near post.
The Rooks were finding it difficult to create too many chances of their own, but nearly took the lead in unusual circumstances towards the end of the half, as Ronnie Conlon just missed the target from a tight angle after Alexandros Kozakis in the Carshalton goal misjudged a deep Steve Brinkhurst cross.
The final chance of the half fell to the hosts, with Winterton forced into a smart save low down to his left to keep out a long-range Jordan Cheadle free-kick.
Carshalton made a bright start to the second half and should have gone ahead within minutes of the restart, as they were awarded a penalty after Frankie Chappell had pushed Raheem Sterling-Parker in the area.
Sterling-Parker took the spot-kick himself, but saw his effort superbly tipped onto the post by Winterton to keep the scores level.
The hosts weren’t to be denied for long though, as Ricky Korboa found space 25 yards from goal and sent a powerful low strike past Winterton and into the bottom corner to give them the lead after 52 minutes.
Lewes were struggling to get out of their own half and fell further behind just six minutes later, with Miller finishing past Winterton from close range after an excellent passing move.
The Rooks were handed a route back into the game after 63 minutes, as Charlie Coppola found the bottom corner with a free-kick from the edge of the area that Kozakis would have expected to save.
Lewes completed a comeback that had seemed virtually impossible just minutes earlier after 67 minutes through substitute Jamie Brotherton, who inadvertently found the back of the net from close range after a Chappell flick-on from a Gus Sow corner hit him in front of goal.
The game was very open at this point, with neither side settling for a draw in the freezing cold temperatures in Surrey.
The better chances were continuing to fall to the hosts though, as Tommy Bradford missed the target from close range when it seemed easier to score at the end of another excellent move in midfield.
Carshalton were able to regain the lead after 76 minutes, with Miller applying the finishing touch to an incisive counter-attack after Lewes had been caught with too many players up field.
The Rooks saw plenty of the ball in the closing stages as they looked to find another equaliser, and both Jonte Smith and substitute George Landais came close to scoring.
Their final chance fell to Chappell deep into stoppage time, but he saw his half-volley from the edge of the area go just over the bar.
This was a disappointing result for the Rooks, who did well to get back into the game after going 2-0 down early in the second half, but were ultimately undone by Carshalton’s pace on the break.
Darren was understandably disappointed when he spoke to Stuart Fuller after the game but was full of praise for the hosts and their style of play.
Lewes will hope to put this result behind them when they travel to Ramsgate on Saturday, kick-off at 3pm.
Carshalton Athletic: Kozakis, Price, Adeniyi, Dudley, Morath-Gibbs, Korboa (Healey 90), Sterling-Parker (Hamilton-Downes 87), Bradford, Miller, Aziaya, Cheadle.
Unused Subs: Phillips, Elsom.
Booked: Bradford.
Lewes: Winterton, Brinkhurst (Hurley 90), George (Landais 81), Hammond, Chappell, Cotton, Smith, Sow, Medlock (Brotherton 64), Conlon, Coppola.
Unused Subs: Reed, Barclay.
Booked: Brinkhurst.
Attendance: 378