Lewes FC
The Rooks secured
another season in
the Ryman Premier
League on the final
day of the season
with a 2-0 victory over
bottom club Bury Town,
finishing two places and five points above
local rivals Peacehaven & Telescombe who
occupied the last of the four relegation
places.
Joint top scorers with eight each, were
Luke Blewden, Sam Cole and Elliott
Romain. Best results of the season? a
2-1 win over 5th placed Enfield Town at
the end of March and a 1-0 win over 4th
placed Dulwich Hamlet mid February.
The Rooks then took on the Hawks of
Whitehawk in the Parafix Senior Cup Final
at the American Express Community
Stadium, but were unfortunately on the
end of a 5-0 drubbing. Lewes were largely
second best in a game dominated by
the team from Conference South, not
surprising when you consider Whitehawk
included ex Brighton players, Jake
Robinson and Sam Gargan, as well as
former Crawley Town player, Sergio Torres.
The Hawks were 3-0 up inside the first
40 minutes and speaking to a Rooks
fan afterwards, the game was over as
a competition by half time. For this
particular fan, the highlight of the second
half was a red flare landing on the pitch!
He also reported that on the Falmer
Station platform afterwards, Lewes fans
were chanting “…you’re just a small town
in Brighton…” while Whitehawk fans
responded with “..you’re just a small town
in Ringmer…” No trouble, but just some
good old fashioned banter which made me
laugh, so I think honours even on this front.
An enjoyable day out for the fans and
great experience for the players I’m sure
but what are the objectives of the Rooks
for next season? After narrowly avoiding
relegation, according to Lewes interim
boss Steve Brown, finishing next year in
the top half, or even a place in the play
offs would be the main goal. The Club is
definitely building for the future and will
no doubt now be planning how they can
push for more silverware over the next few
years.
Crawley Town FC
After a season largely
worth forgetting,
the ignominy of
relegation to League
2 was sealed on
the last day of the
season after a 2-1
defeat against fellow
strugglers and former FA Cup Winners
Coventry City.
Quite simply, Crawley had needed one win
from their last 2 games to be sure of safety.
Despite the heartache of seeing a 3-2 lead
with 3 minutes to go at Peterborough turn
into a 4-3 defeat the previous weekend,
there was still an electric atmosphere for
the last game, especially where I found
myself, behind the goal in The Bruce
Winfield Stand on the final day. 5,700 were
packed into the Checkatrade.com Stadium
as fans were optimistic that Crawley could
stay up. Things were looking good when
goalkeeper Brian Jensen saved a Coventry
penalty just before half time. Electric
turned to fever pitch when Mathias Pogba
put Crawley ahead in the 47th minute
with a powerful header. Football can be
ectasy one minute and agony the next,
as Coventry scored twice in the last 15
minutes to win it for the Sky Blues and
send Crawley down.
So can we expect a similar dramatic clear
out of players that the Club experienced
last summer? Let’s start with the top
spot, the Manager. Dean Saunders had
been brought in as an interim boss for
John Gregory who had to step down due
to ill health. Certainly the majority of the
vocal support on that final day made their
feelings known and for Saunders to stay.
Alas, this was not to be, as a few weeks
later ‘Deano’ was announced as the new
boss of Chesterfield.
Former Cheltenham Town boss Mark
Yates has been appointed as the new first
team manager on a two-year contract.
As a player, the 45-year-old represented
Birmingham City, Burnley, Lincoln
City, Cheltenham, Doncaster Rovers
and Kidderminster. He was part of the
Birmingham City side that won the 1991
Leyland DAF (now Johnstone’s Paint)
Trophy final at Wembley and played a key
role as Cheltenham captain in securing
promotion to the Football League and
promotion to League One in 2002.
East Grinstead Hockey Club
East Grinstead Hockey
Club have completed
their season during
May, having achieved
several remarkable
feats. Following a 10
year journey, in which
the ladies have progress through
promotion after promotion, EGHC Ladies
1st team have now reached the top level
of the game in England, and join the
Men’s team in playing in the National
League Premier Division. They secured
their promotion during a series of playoff
matches over the weekend of April 18
an 19, beating Slough and Wakefield 7:1
and 4:3 with a display of fine attacking
hockey. EGHC’s GB International, Sophie
Bray was on the score sheet several times
over the weekend while her international
team mate, Kirsty Mackay in goal was
critical to the team’s success. A fantastic
season with a real team work from players
through management and coaching shows
what the club is capable.
While the ladies were victorious and
secured promotion, the Men missed
out in the playoff final to a 7G&