Men's football news
A brace from Ollie Tanner and an impressive Kyron Richards strike helped Lewes to a well-deserved win at Merstham, reports Tom Harper.
Tony Russell named an unchanged side after Saturday’s impressive win over Enfield Town.
The Rooks enjoyed plenty of possession early on and came close to taking an early lead through Razzaq Coleman De-Graft, who saw his strike from the edge of the area helped round the post by Toby Bull in the Merstham goal.
Lewes didn’t have to wait long to go in front though, as good play down the right from De-Graft ended with his cross being emphatically finished into the top corner on the half-volley by Ollie Tanner to make it 1-0 after only eight minutes.
The Rooks were controlling the game and for long periods of the half, it looked like just a matter of time before they would add to their lead.
Taylor Maloney and Joe Taylor both narrowly missed the target, before Taylor was then denied twice in quick succession by Bull, the first of these saves coming after a superb back-heel from De-Graft played the in-form striker through on goal.
It was therefore against the run of play when Merstham equalised on 36 minutes, a Dylan Adjei-Hersey corner from the right being headed into the bottom corner by the unmarked James Richmond to level the scores.
Lewes continued to dominate possession and regained their lead on the stroke of half-time, as substitute Kyron Richards sent a superb strike from the edge of the area past Bull and into the top corner at the end of an impressive move that had seen both Tanner and Taylor go close.
Merstham started the second half brightly and came close to equalising for a second time within minutes of the restart, as Lewis Carey had to be alert to push a powerful Adjei-Hersey effort round his near post.
The hosts were enjoying arguably their best spell of the game so far, but Lewes always posed a threat going forward and doubled their advantage on 61 minutes through Tanner, who cut inside from the left and found the bottom corner with an accurate finish.
After playing such impressive football for much of the first half, Lewes managed the game well for the remainder of the second, restricting Merstham to a goalmouth scramble that was eventually cleared and a Chace Jacquart strike from the edge of the area that went wide.
The Rooks nearly made it consecutive 4-1 victories with the last action of the game as they won the ball back high up the pitch and saw Maloney hit the outside of the post from 20 yards.
This was another impressive result for Lewes, with the 50 or so Rooks fans able to enjoy their trip back down the M23 with three points in the bag.
Next up for Lewes is their longest away trip of the season to Brightlingsea Regent on Saturday, kick-off at 3pm.
Merstham: Bull, Williams, Mason, Greenwood (Dillon 57), Lloyd, Richmond, Gharbaoui, Jacquart, Folkes (Makofo 68), Adjei-Hersey, Anderson (Dickson 68).
Unused Subs: Monga, Palmer.
Booked: Bull, Williams.
Lewes: Carey, Colombie (Richards 40), Carlse, Weaire, Nelson, De-Graft, Olukoga (Klass 68), Pritchard, Maloney, Tanner (Allen 69), Taylor.
Unused Subs: Parker, D’Arienzo.
Booked: Colombie, Richards.
Referee: Farai Hallam
Attendance: 177 (Approx. 50 travelling Rooks)