LEWES were edged out of this contest between the top and bottom teams in the Blue Square South – but the afternoon was overshadowed by nasty injuries suffered by players on each team.
Greg Pearson's penalty strike in first half injury time was enough to separate the two teams in a scrappy and often unattractive match to watch.
But the game was marred by a head injury suffered by Burton's Tony James and a serious-looking knee in
jury sustained by Rooks midfielder Ollie Rowland.
Stoppages for those two first half incidents led to the unusual sight of stopwatches clicking past the hour mark before the players could make their way to the dressing rooms for half time refreshment.
But the hold-up was only delaying the inevitable for the hosts who, despite equalling their high-flying opponents for great parts of the game, lacked the threat up front to seriously threaten the visitors' one-goal advantage.
Michael Standing was involved in most everything creative about Lewes' play – particularly in the first half – and deservedly received the Rooks man of the match award from the club's newly-formed Supporters Trust, who were sponsoring the game.
In the eighth minute he picked up the ball from a failed Burton attack and set Sam Gargan free down the inside left channel, but the big strker in on loan from Brighton failed either to shoot or find strike partner Scott Taylor.
Rowland saw a good shot of his charged down before James received the first of the half's two serious injuries. Although he was able to stand – and even sit up on the stretcher as he finally left the field – he was clearly in considerable distress and received a sympathetic and prolonged round of applause from the home fans.
However, some of those fans in the Philcox Stand took advantage of the break in play to deliver their first "Keehan Out" chant of the day – a little harsh, perhaps, if delievered solely on the performance of Keehan's men in this game up to that point. Keehan himself clearly thought so, responding to the chants with what seemed like a sarcastic round of applause.
Once play had resumed, Standing was again in the action, with a good shot that went straight down 45-year-old keeper Kevin Poole's throat and a nice through pass that resulted in Lewes' best effort of the game, when Gargan toed the ball past his marker and forced a fine save from Poole with an angled drive.
The visitors' Lee Morris should have opened the scoring on the half-hour when he was contentiously ruled onside from a ball over the top, but he lobbed his shot onto the top of the netting when through one-on-one with Rikki Banks.
Rowland had another shot charged down a minute later – before moments later going down with what appeared to be a serious injury following a relatively harmless looking challenge with Jon Newby. Rowland has already suffered one career-threatening injury to his knee and one must hope that the hopes raised after the game by his boss, Keehan, that things may not be as bad as once feared are proved correct.
When play eventually restarted for a second time, the Lewes players still appeared to have Rowland's misfortune on their minds and, for the first time in the game, Burton looked genuinely threatening. And it was from a dangerous run into the box from Albion's Lee Morris that the only goal of the came arrived moments later. Morris appeared a little to eager to go down under the challenge of Aswad Thomas but referee Keith Yeo pointed to the spot nevertheless.
Pearson made no mistake with a drilled penalty that lifted the goal netting from its anchors.
Although the goal came in the first minute of first half stoppage time, there was still a quarter of an hour before the half-time whistle – during which time the blue lights of the ambulance called for either James or Rowland could be seen reflected off the faulty scoreboard. And in that time, Burton should have killed the game but Morris saw a shot blocked well by keeper Banks and Aaron Webster headed straight at Banks with the last touch of the half.
The second half was less of a spectacle, with Burton looking comfortable if not all that inspiring throughout.
Rooks defender Chris Breach did wonderfully well to block a goalbound Pearson shot on the line five minutes in, while Pearson squandered another chance seven minutes after that when – in fairness to him – he declined to go down under the challenge of Banks before seeing an angled effort deflected away for a corner.
At the other end, Joe Keehan and Taylor had chances that either went just wide or were saved by the keeper.
The best chance for a Lewes equaliser came late on when substitute Chamal Fenelon flicked a ball on for himself to run on to just outside the box, but his rushed shot squirmed wide.
LEWES: Banks, Barness, Wallis-Tayler, Cullip, Breach, Standing, Keehan, Taylor, Rowland (Elliott 44), Gargan (Fenelon 79), Thomas.
BURTON: Poole, Webster, Simpson, James (Austin 20), McGrath, Corbett, Gilroy, Buxton, Morris (Harrad 67), Pearson (Banim 80), Newby.
REF: Keith Yeo (Essex). ATT: 630.
The full article contains 884 words and appears in Sussex Express Series newspaper.
