New striker for Rooks?

LEWES have snapped up former St. Leonard's forward Tony Reid in an effort to solve their striker shortage, writes Richard Lenton.

Reid has signed from Doc Martens Eastern Division side Burnham, but The Rooks failed to clinch his signature in time for tomorrow's (Saturday's) FA Cup tie at home to Thatcham Town.

Lewes boss Jimmy Quinn is also in negotiations with former Crystal Palace striker Adolph Amoako, who was on the bench for Ryman League rivals Bromley at the Dripping Pan on Monday afternoon.

The 18-year old, who is still on contract to Palace until the end of the month, is desperate to impress and would be a terrific signing for Lewes, who have been rocked by the departure of Sam Francis to Withdean.

'We were so desperate for a striker on Monday we were tempted to ask Terry Parris to play!' said Lewes coach, Ralph Cella.

'We've played all of this season without a striker and we've been desperate to improve in that area.

'We've been forced to recruit from the London area because of the situation in Sussex. Because there are so many teams and so many players in London, their wage demands are much more realistic.'

Gareth Green, Andy Driscoll and Paul Thomsett will all come back into contention for tomorrow's cup game, but Junior Kamara is still unavailable because of personal reasons.

After last season's heroics, in which The Rooks reached the first round proper for the first time in their history before losing to Stoke, Lewes are desperate to taste the big time once again.

'Thatcham are a good team. Even though they're in the Jewson Wessex League we won't underestimate them,' added Ralph.

'We've had them watched three times by different people to get different perspectives.'

The winners of Saturday's tie are likely to meet Slough in the next round.