Tuesday 7 February 2012

Lewes Poor Streak Coninues Against Canvey

In the most youthful side Lewes have put out this season a plucky first half lead was not enough to see Simon Wormull gain his first three points as Lewes boss, despite an appearance on the pitch from the manager himself. Lewes did not get the best of preperations coming in to the game with the regular back four; Kamara, Hamilton, Robinson and Hustwick all pulling out of the squad with minor injuries meaning that under 18's Charlie Leach and Josh Phillips had to fill in at the back with midfielder Matt Somner playing at centre back and Nic Ciardini playing left back.

This also allowed further changes to the squad with new signing Jack Walder starting in midfield despite not having played for four months.

From the outset Lewes were looking the weaker side with Canvey island pulling all the strings with Jason Hallet having a powerful volley fly just wide of the goal before a corner found the same man and a fortunate deflection of Matt Somner sent the ball wide again.

Canvey continued to attack the Lewes goal and it looked like they were to take the lead when Alex Rhodes burst through on goal after a defensive error between Charlie Leach and Josh Phillips but the striker somehow managed to, again send the ball wide of Rikki Banks goal with the keeper not having to make a save despite the pressure.

The pressure on Lewes seemed to encourage the youthful side to get into the action a bit and switching talented winger Christian Nanetti over to the left suddenly opened the game up as he beat his man with ease and sent a powerful, yet accurate, ball in to the box slicing through the air straight on to prolific striker Paul Booth's head who sent a perfectly weighted header into the top corner against the run of play.

The goal brought about yet more unwanted pressure on the Lewes goal however and within a minute Canvey should have been level when a simlar ball in as the Lewes goal produced a fantastic diveing header from Jay Curran before Bradley Woods somehow only managed to hit the post from a yard out under a little pressure from the energetic Leach.

Canvey were really starting to make Lewes keeper Rikki Banks work and it was Curran at the forefront again as his hard shot at the near post caught Banks off his guard but he still kept Lewes ahead with a fine reaction stop.  From the resulting a corner Banks had one of his infamous moments and decided to stay on the line rather than plucking the ball out of the air but he more than made up for his mistake when he clawed the goalbound header off the line.

Lewes needed to make some serious changes at the break if they were to hold on to their unlikely lead and yet they were unable to do so resulting in Canvey equalising within six minutes of the restart. Hallett managed to pick out Alex Rhodes on the edge of the box who faked a shot before rounding the flailing Somner and smashing the ball in to the bottom corner across the goal and celebrating with the travelling Canvey fans delighted at the instand come back from the break.

A goalmouth scramble was saved by Banks once again as a shot came in from Hallett and bounced around in the area for some time before Banks eventually managed to pounce on the ball.

With it being clear that the only winners of the game were to be the visitors Lewes fans got some exitment when they saw that new manager Simon Wormull, ex tottenham and many other clubs including being part of the Lewes side which won the conference South in 2008, was warming up ready to come on for Jack walder making his return to the club after signing from local rivals Hastings. 

The managers substitution instantly made an impact as Wormull picked up the ball in his own half with his first touch of the ball sent a glorious through pass playing Paul Booth through on goal, however as he bared down on the Canvey goal he curled his shot round the keeper but to the dissapointment of lewes fans, around the post as well.

Lewes started to get in to the game a bit more and fans were hopeful that they may even be able to nick a win as Ian Draycott spurned a terrific chance, volleying straight at the keeper. However after another scramble in the lewes area, the ball eventually fell to Woods on the outside of the box who chested the ball down and sent a sublime volley past Banks giveing the keeper no chance and sending Canvey well on their way to three points meaning they would have beaten league title runners Lowestoft Town and promotion hopefuls Lewes all in one week, a remarkable acheivment for the previously struggling club.

The game fizzled out after the goal with no chances going wither way despite the undeserved four minutes of injury time. Lewes are hopeful to have at least two of the back four back by the next game at home to Leatherhead this coming saturday however it can be confirmed that Michael Malcolm has joined Albert Jarrett at Bromley, it is not yet known whether a fee was involved and Nic Ciardini has cancelled his contract at the club due to work commitments. Rikki Banks has also been denied permission to extend his loan spell from rivals Eastbourne Borough to lewes and so he returns to his parent club.

Lewes have however signed Wycombe keeper Matt Ingram on loan who will be the seventh keeper Lewes have seen between the sticks this season. Popular defender Chris Breach has also been re signed from local rivals Bognor regis who currently sit top of the Ryman South. Lewes are hoping to sign a striker by next week to replace top scorer Michael malcolm.