Lewes and Horsham in Sussex derby stalemate

The tone of the match was set after just ten minutes when Charlie Hester-Cook, making his first start of a loan spell from Dorking Wanderers, shot wide from a half-cleared corner.

Lewes, though, went closer when Tom Carlse found space down the left to cut the ball back for Ollie Tanner who fired into the side-netting.

The home goal had another left off when Will Miles flicked Tom Richards’ corner across the six yard box without anyone on hand to apply the finishing touch and, three minutes later, Richards was only narrowly off target with a fiercely-struck free-kick that fizzed past the angle of post and bar.

The Hornets were dominating play but just couldn’t provide the cutting edge that their build-up play deserved as, first, Fenelon shot straight at ‘keeper Lewis Carey and then Luke Robinson saw his effort parried away with Hester-Cook’s follow-up blocked at the expense of a corner.

As the onslaught continued, and the backing of the away fans grew ever more fervent, Hester-Cook drove forward but dragged his attempt wide.

They say you make your own luck, so the visitors had no-one to blame but themselves for not having put this contest to bed inside the opening half hour, but they must have felt the fates were against them when Fenelon put the ball in the Lewes net, ten minutes from half-time, only to be flagged offside.

Next it was Robinson’s turn to waste a golden opportunity when he ran into space only to shoot wide of the far post with Richards unmarked to his left.

Yet, having seen so many chances go begging, Horsham almost fell behind to a sucker punch when Razz Coleman De-Graft fired in a low shot that Sam Howes got down well to push aside and Tanner, following up, was unable to keep his shot down.

There was no let-up to Horsham’s ambitions in stoppage time, this time Robinson holding the ball up before picking out Fenelon and when his strike was deflected high into the air, Tom Day’s ambitious attempt at burying the loose ball went wide.

The Hornets were forced into a change, just three minutes into the second half, when Gary Charman succumbed to a first half injury that saw him replaced by Alex Malins – himself a late addition to the squad in place of Tom Kavanagh.

Almost immediately Horsham went through on goal once again when play was allowed to continue, despite a high boot on Hester-Cook, but Fenelon blazed wildly over the crossbar under pressure from two defenders.

Clearly feeling the visitors needed a helping hand in finding the net, Carlse almost headed a Richards free-kick past his own ‘keeper who then had to stay strong to repel a driven cross from Day.

Fenelon was giving Mitchell Nelson a testing afternoon but he will feel he should have at least tested Carey after twisting and turning past the centre-half before slamming the ball into the advertising hoardings to the side of the goal.

It was seventy minutes before the home side gave their supporters something to applaud when their stand-out performer, Coleman De-Graft, put a header over the crossbar but it began a period of Lewes pressure that saw them close to going in front.

Coleman De-Graft was behind the Rooks’ next attack, in which he collected a pass from substitute Karl Dent only to see the sting taken off his shot via a deflection off Harvey Sparks’ thigh and the ball dropped comfortably for Howes.

A tremendous driving run by Tanner saw him storm unchallenged into the Horsham penalty area, where Miles was in the right place to hack away his cutback, and then Howes produced a terrific stop to prevent Joe Taylor from adding to his weekend hat-trick having got the better of Malins.

But Horsham survived the late pressure and fashioned a couple of decent chances themselves inside the final five minutes.

When Richards’ corner was only cleared into midfield, Day sent the ball back out to the corner taker to swing the ball back into the box.

Lee Harding appeared to be held down by Nelson but, as the ball fell loose, Richards’ hurried effort went harmlessly wide.

Then, in stoppage time, came arguably Horsham’s best chance of taking the points when Richards’ goalbound shot looked like it finally had the beating of Carey only for the ball to smash against Rob O’Toole and behind for a goal kick.

A late free-kick for the hosts saw Michael Klass’ optimistic thirty yarder go straight at Howes as both sides had to settle for a point a piece.