Match Reports
10/12/05
Lewes 4-2 Men's Veterans XI
With a player availability crisis resulting in scratching last week's game it was a relief to see Brighton Veterans lining up against serial League winners Lewes, with arguably the strongest team in many many years.
James Myers was playing his second game in goal and certainly justified the tag "best keeper in the club" with an outstanding display of shotstopping and defence organisation. Luckily, the higher teams do not seem too interested, no complaints here.
Brighton started brightly and stuck well to their defensive duties when not in possession and moved the ball smartly around when with it. As the half progressed Brighton's self belief also grew and it was after a well worked move down the right involving James Alexander and Andy Wood that Adrian Adams could not believe how easy it was to score his umpteenth goal of the season. Brighton were leading and on merit.
Lewes turned up the pressure but the midfield and defence stood firm. Even when the lines were breached the Lewes forwards then had to get past the keeper who was in no mood to grant favours. John Spearman had his hands full with the lively right winger but stuck to his task with admirable courage - his feet will certainly be sore for a few days after the number of direct hits he took on them.
Brighton continued to match Lewes and were unlucky not to earn at least one short corner as they pressed forward. As one of these moves broke down Lewes pounced on the counter attack and equalised to make honours even at half time.
Inexplicably Brighton started the second half with ten players (from a squad of thirteen!) and Lewes capitalised to take the lead. Player equality was resumed and the game continued with both sides showing determination and no shortage of attacking hockey. Lewes' better interplay paid dividends with a third goal and this could have been the signal for the Brighton heads to drop. This year's team is made of stronger stuff and a intricate run from Tim Ireland resulted in their first short corner of the match. His direct hit was neatly deflected in by Rob Scrivens and it was "game on" again. Brighton pressed forwards with Alexander making excellent inroads on the right. One of these runs resulted in a short corner and Brighton's chances of equalising improved dramatically when Ireland slipped to Adams who drilled the ball at the goal. The Lewes defender on the line made a paternity saving stop and suddenly Lewes counter-attacked at pace (well pace for a Veterans game anyway). Before Brighton could regroup the ball was in the goal and the score was 4 - 2. Steve Tinson then took the opportunity to demonstrate the speed of his reactions when he narrowly missed avoiding a Lewes clearance. For those of you who don't know him, he's the one in the bar with dimples on his right temple.
Brighton continued to battle and Ireland won a further short corner. Unfortunately his shot was saved and cleared. With the ball went Brighton's last meaningful chance of scoring.
A good performance with plenty of positives that can be used for future matches. For once the Lewes fixture was not one sided and for that the team can take much credit and pride.