Men's football news
An excellent
team performance saw Lewes record a comfortable 4-0 victory at East Grinstead
to move seven points clear at the top of the Bostik South table reports Tom Harper.
Darren
Freeman made four changes to the side that won 4-1 at Dunstable in the FA
Trophy last weekend, with Frankie Chappell, Gus Sow, Ronnie Conlon and Billy
Medlock replacing Matt Hurley, Alex Malins, Wilf Grimaud and Jamie Brotherton
in the starting line-up.
Lewes
started brightly and took the lead after just five minutes through Gus Sow, who
saw a low shot from the edge of the area deflected past Dan Smith in the East
Grinstead goal and into the bottom corner after good work down the right by
Charlie Coppola.
The Rooks
were causing the host’s defence plenty of problems with their pace and
movement, and saw Lloyd Cotton just miss the target with a near-post effort
from a Sow corner, before Billy Medlock sent a long-range effort wide as they
looked to turn their dominance into a bigger lead.
Lewes were
looking like scoring every time they went forward and hit the post twice in a
matter of minutes, with Ronnie Conlon seeing a volley pushed onto the upright
by Smith and Medlock hitting the woodwork with another long-range strike after
holding off two East Grinstead defenders.
Medlock went
close to scoring again minutes later, but saw a close-range volley from a Steve
Brinkhurst cross helped over the bar by Smith.
The hosts
had their first meaningful attempt on goal during injury-time at the end of the
half, with Will Hoare sending a volley from the edge of the area just wide
after an incisive counter-attack.
The Rooks started the second half in the same
way they had finished the first, with Smith having his blushes spared by a
covering defender after failing to deal with a low Conlon cross-shot in the
six-yard box.
Lewes only
had to wait until six minutes after the restart to double their lead, as Cotton
headed in from virtually on the line after Medlock had seen a half-volley from
a Sow corner pushed onto the underside of the bar by Smith.
Medlock
finally got the goal his efforts had deserved after 61 minutes, as he was in
the right place at the right time to roll the ball into the empty net from
close range after Smith had managed to tip a Conlon effort onto the post.
The in-form
striker doubled his tally just three minutes later, as he latched onto a
perfectly-weighted Bouwe Bosma through-ball, rounded Smith and cleverly
finished past two covering defenders on the line from a difficult angle to make
it 4-0 with over 25 minutes still to play.
To their
credit, the hosts continued to look to play out from the back, and were
unfortunate to see Leo Mazzone denied by the previously untroubled Chris
Winterton after a mix-up in the Lewes defence.
The Rooks
dominated possession in the closing stages without creating any clear-cut
opportunities to add to their lead, but will have been pleased to keep a clean
sheet alongside another impressive attacking display.
After the game, Barry Collins spoke to Ross Standen about the game.
More pictures from the game from super snapper James Boyes, here.
Lewes now have
a short break from league action, and host Horsham YMCA in the Sussex Senior
Cup second round at the Pan on Wednesday, kick-off at 7.45pm.
East Grinstead Town: Smith, C. Wilson, Straker
(Giraud-Hutchinson 62), Meeres, Aghasite, Burrowes, Hoare (Tan 62), Gill,
Mazzone, Elliott, M. Wilson (Onwugbonu 68).
Unused Subs: Williams-Agunabor, Ali.
Booked: C. Wilson, Hoare, M. Wilson.
Lewes: Winterton, Brinkhurst, George,
Hammond, Chappell, Cotton, Bosma, Sow, Medlock (Smith 73), Conlon (Brotherton
67), Coppola (Grimaud 77).
Unused Subs: Hurley, Reed.
Booked: Hammond.
Referee: Jamie Wells
Attendance: 263