Men's football news
Written by: Stuart
First-half goals from Michael Klass and Razz Coleman De-Graft helped Lewes to an impressive 2-1 win at Carshalton Athletic, reports Tom Harper.
Tony Russell made two changes to the side that beat East Thurrock in their previous game, with Casey Pettit and Deshane Dalling replacing Freddie Parker and Ollie Tanner in the starting line-up.
The Rooks made a bright start and came close to taking the lead early on through Taylor Maloney, who saw his shot from the edge of the area come back off the post after an impressive passing move.
Carshalton made the most of this let-off by going ahead themselves on 12 minutes, as Daniel Bassett unleashed an unstoppable 30-yard pile-driver that flew past Lewis Carey and into the top corner.
Despite falling behind, Lewes continued to look dangerous every time they went forward, with Razz Coleman De-Graft shooting just wide after being teed up by Joe Taylor.
The game was becoming an end-to-end contest as the half progressed, and Carey was forced into a smart save to deny Daniel Roberts after the hosts won the ball on the edge of the Lewes penalty area.
Carshalton goalkeeper Lloyd Thomas matched Carey minutes later, helping a Taylor Maloney free-kick over the bar as Lewes continued to search for an equaliser.
Lewes came even closer to levelling the scores with their next attack, with Thomas turning a De-Graft strike from a tight angle onto his near post after another spell of patient Lewes build-up play.
The Rooks finally scored the equaliser their first-half performance deserved on 36 minutes, as Klass made space for himself with some superb footwork before guiding an effort from just inside the area into the bottom corner.
The celebrations had barely died down before Lewes went in front after 38 minutes, with Klass winning the ball in midfield and playing an inch-perfect through-ball into the path of De-Graft, whose powerful effort beat Thomas at his near post.
Lewes remained on the front foot after the break and hit the woodwork for a third time within minutes of the restart, Taylor seeing a curling strike come from the left come back off the post.
Carshalton have taken points off a number of promotion-chasing teams this season and soon began to apply more pressure, with Bassett shooting over the bar from the edge of the area and Korrey Henry only managing to shoot straight at Carey after doing well to create space for himself.
Carey had to be alert again soon after to keep out a long-range strike from Roberts.
The Rooks had a gilt-edged chance to double their lead heading into the closing stages, but saw Taylor shoot over the bar with only Thomas to beat after capitalising on some hesitant defending.
Lewes managed to keep Carshalton at arms length for the remainder of the 90 minutes, but the four minutes of injury time at the end of the game seemed to give the hosts a second wind as they looked to level the scores.
First, Carey reacted well to parry a pwerful 25-yard from Bobby Price. The hosts then saw Matt Weaire make a superb block to keep out a goal-bound strike, before substitute Daniel Bennett was played in down the right but dragged his effort wide of the far post.
Carshalton were dealt a blow deep into stoppage time, as substitute Ergis Shala was dismissed after being shown a second yellow card for kicking the ball away.
Lewes saw out the remaining seconds to record a superb victory and remain in fourth place in the table.
The Rooks return to Surrey when they visit Leatherhead on Tuesday, kick-off at 7.45pm.
Carshalton Athletic: Thomas, Price, Hamilton-Downes, Read, Hyman (Shala 46), Adenyi, Williams, Henry (Bennett 83), Bradford, Bassett, Roberts (Koroma 74).
Unused Subs: Sankoh, Masikini.
Booked: Shala, Bassett.
Sent off: Shala.
Lewes: Carey, Spencer, Carlse, Salmon, Weaire, Klass, Maloney, Dalling (Yao 83), De-Graft, Pettit, Taylor.
Unused Subs: Hall, Gillies, Parker.
Booked: Klass, Dalling.
Referee: Nicholas Metcalfe
Attendance: 571 (approximately 120 travelling Rooks)