Match Reports
03/03/07
Lewes 5 7-1 Men's 5th XI
Josh was still cosily tucked up in bed as the ten Brighton players warmed up for the home game against Lewes on a bright and breezy Stanley Deason morning. Ramzy was urgently phoning for players but as push back time approached and the umpires called the teams together Brighton were still a player short.
Lewes quickly made their numerical advantage count, moving the ball around at a crisp pace, while Brighton always seemed to be struggling to catch up. Within four minutes Lewes went one up, although there was an element of doubt about the goal from Brighton’s point of view. A Lewes player had trodden on the ball inside the area before recovering quickly to slap the ball past Matt Squires, the Brighton keeper.
Within five more minutes Lewes were two-up as a quick passing move brought a Lewes striker driving into space behind the Brighton defence. Charging into the left hand edge of the area he hit a shot hard and low which, although the keeper got a foot to the ball, it bounced away into the nearside of the goal. A third goal followed in the fourteenth minute after a dubious short corner was awarded by an umpire uncertain about whose leg a foot was attached to. The ball was passed in and slipped under the slide of the advancing keeper. Three down with only 14 minutes played - Brighton were just chasing the game, but rather off the pace.
Josh now joined the proceedings for the restart but Brighton’s performance hardly improved even with a full team of players. Lewes were laying siege to the Brighton area and a flurry of shots rained in on the Brighton goal. The keeper made three good saves in quick succession but the defence failed to get the ball away and, when a fourth shot came in, it was unluckily deflected past the keeper by a Brighton stick.
As half-time approached there were signs that Brighton were beginning to get their game together and a period of possession pushed Lewes back for a period. Two short corners followed but did not lead to goals.
The second half began like the first, Lewes maintaining their high speed, crisp, passing game with Brighton working hard to keep up. For ten minutes Brighton seemed to be holding their own, even launching occasional raids through the middle with Dan and Will released to make solo runs at the Lewes defence, but seldom were Brighton able to move forward in sufficient strength to really threaten the Lewes goal.
After 14 minutes Lewes had broken through again. A Lewes striker was allowed far too much space at the edge of the area and, as he was shaping to shoot, the Brighton keeper rushed out from his goal, going to ground to block the shot, unfortunately the striker had time to slip the ball sideways leaving a relatively simple tap-in to an open goal for his team mate. The sixth Lewes goal came from a well-executed short corner resulting in a shot driven into the goal at the foot of the far post.
Six down, but Brighton still fought on, moving into their best spell of the match. A period of pressure brought two short corners, both resulting in shots on target. Unfortunately the first shot was too high and the score was disallowed. The next Brighton short corner pushed Dicky rather wide to control the ball, but as he did so a shooting chance opened up nicely and he cracked the ball firmly into the Lewes goal. It was clearly the best goal of the game so far, but unfortunately the only one for Brighton.
In the closing minutes, Lewes were able to work a position down the right before hitting a cross hard and low into the Brighton area. An unmarked Lewes player sprinted in on the blind side to nick the ball away from the Brighton keeper and into the net. Seven - one was the final score, it flattered Lewes, but perhaps not by much. Going behind early, with two dubious goals out of the first three, had rocked Brighton back and from then on they were always playing catch-up. The game might be remembered as the match when Josh didn’t turn up, but maybe he wasn’t really the only one.