Lewes’ county cup hopes dashed as U18s lose at Roffey
Lewes suffered their third early cup exit of the season as a squad of Under-18s exited the Sussex Transport Senior Cup at SCFL Premier Division side Roffey.
A curious evening at Bartholomew Way saw Lewes approach the match as an exercise to blood youth, with even their senior coaches, besides manager Bradley Pritchard, having the night off.
Pritchard effectively took the place of U18s boss Dale Hurley, who has recently combined his role with becoming manager at Lancing, and watched a fresh-faced Rooks side compete well.
Roffey demonstrated greater game management skills to see out a 2-1 win after all three goals were scored in the opening 20 minutes, while the result, on paper, appeared to be a big upset.
On the pitch, it was a little different. On a relatively mild evening in east Horsham, Lewes manager Bradley Pritchard surprised everyone by naming an entire travelling squad of teenagers.
Winger Callum Erskine and midfielder Christo Nano offered the only existing first-team experience, while Oli Deda had been on the bench a few occasions during the season too.
The match began in a flash, with Roffey sweeping up the pitch and blasting a shot over the crossbar from close range.
After an immediate stoppage for an injury in the Roffey backline, Lewes rushed up the other end and opened the scoring, with Omar Abdsami finding Dominic Budgen with a lovely pass and the Lewes striker squaring for Erskine to smash home.
That lead would last all of four minutes, however, with experienced striker Devon Fender drawing Roffey level with a shot into the bottom left corner past goalkeeper Callum Monks.
If it wasn’t already obvious, the game was going to be one of free-flowing creativity, rather than one involving much physicality.
Roffey were creating the greater number of chances to begin with, and they took advantage in the 18th minute, with Max Mesquita finding space in the box after a set-piece and having his first strike well saved by Monks before netting with his second.
After taking the lead, however, Roffey’s threat waned. Lewes’ young guns had plenty of the ball on a pristine pitch, and showed their technical prowess by creating several chances.
Striker Budgen was the recipient of almost all of them, with his first notable strike from a tight angle hitting the side netting. In the half’s final 10 minutes, Budgen had three efforts inside the 18-yard box, with each hitting the target but lacking the requisite power and direction to beat goalkeeper Conor Clark.
The second half only picked up where the first left off, and again it was a tale of Lewes’ chances and Roffey's pragmatism.
The Rooks were spreading the ball wide and used their positional versatility to their advantage, with Erskine the most dangerous man as he switched between the right and the left. The young winger’s best chance was a forceful shot sent across the face of goal following a fine Beran Janneh through ball, with the ball just flying beyond the far post.
Lewes struggled to make Clark work as much after the hour mark, however, with Budgen a passenger by comparison to his first-half performance. Lewes’ defending, however, was exemplary, with even the slightest Boars chance swarmed out by a clutch of bodies, which left Monks with little to do.
Ultimately, with chances scarce in the closing stages, time just ran out for Lewes to get back in the contest, with Roffey doing all that was required to achieve the upset.
Roffey: C. Clark, Legrange, Pauw, Mobsby (D. Pearse, 76’), Shorey, Mutongerwa (M. Clark, 76’), J. Pearse, Mase, Mesquita (Joseph, 90’), Fender, Moyo
Unused: Watson-Price, Colombini
Lewes: Monks, Waters (Sim, 82’), Deda, Nano, Knight (C), McKay (Janneh, 46’), Erskine, Abdsami, Budgen, Khediji (Kartal, 73’), Grice (Ovenden, 73’)
Unused: Newland
Lewes’ first-team squad return to action this Saturday with a trip to Chichester City, in a rearranged edition of the fixture that was set to take place a fortnight ago.
This game will be played in the shadow of Chichester’s grieving process after the death of young striker Billy Vigar, and will certainly have a different feel from a typical derby.
The match will kick off at 3pm at Oaklands Park, PO19 6AR.