Men's football news
Written by: Stuart
The Rooks had a trip to the coast to forget on Tuesday night as they went down 4-1 to a resurgent Herne Bay.
Michael Klass returned to the starting line up after suspension ruled him out of the Sevenoaks Town game, whilst Rhys Murrell-Williamson was brought in to the starting XI, with Ronan Silva and Deon Moore dropping down to the bench.
The Rooks started brightly on the new 3G surface, with both Michael Klass and Joe Taylor seeing early chances handled well by Herne Bay’s keeper Jordan Perrin. However, things went wrong for the Rooks in the 16th minute when Jack Parter cut in from the Herne Bay left and his effort took a deflection to wrong foot Lewis Carey to give the home side the lead.
Three minutes later Herne Bay had a second. Once again, Lewis Carey was powerless to stop the effort, this time a well-executed free-kick from the edge of the area by Kieron Campbell.
Lewes were shell-shocked by the two quick goals and tried to get back into the game. Tony Russell made a tactical change, swapping Ayo Olukoga for Bradley Pritchard in the middle of the park. However, they soon found themselves three-nil down when Tushaun Walters showed the Rooks defence a clean set of heels and struck another shot that Carey had little chance of saving from the left-hand side of the area.
The travelling band of Rooks fans thought they had something to shout about when Joe Taylor turned in a Murrell-Williamson cross in the 35th minute, but the effort was ruled out by the officials for offside.
With the Rooks looking towards the sanctuary of the dressing room at the end of the half, Herne Bay struck again, with Rory Smith converting a penalty after Will Salmon was adjudged to have brought down Mike West.
Rooks boss Tony Russell took off Michael Klass and replaced him with Ronan Silva for the second half. The home side naturally were happy for the Rooks to play on the front foot, looking to counter-attack, and efforts from Razz Coleman De-Graft and Bradley Pritchard came close to giving the Rooks some consolation but keeper Perrin was rarely troubled.
In the 62nd minute we saw an unusual incident when the referee gave an indirect free-kick against Perrin for time-wasting in his area, although the resultant free-kick was blocked by the Herne Bay wall.
In the 82nd minute Silvas was impeded as he ran into the box, and the referee gave the Rooks a penalty, which Joe Taylor calmly dispatched.
It was a hard night all round for the Rooks but the team will look to get back to winning ways when they head to Enfield Town on Saturday, 15th October 2022, kick off 3pm.
Lewes: Carey, Elva-Fountain, Mascoll, Champion, Salmon, Klass (Silva 46 mins), Young, Olukoga (Pritchard 20 mins), Murrell-Williamson (Moore 65 mins), Coleman De-Graft, Taylor
Subs not used: Nelson, Renee
Booked: Elva-Fountain, Pritchard
Attendance: 352 (14 travelling Rooks)