Lewes FC boss defends club over withdrawal from Sussex Senior Cup as Rooks get flak

In a week when they have gone out of the FA Trophy after a penalty shootout loss at the end of a 2-2 draw at home to Bognor, and lost an Isthmian premier game at Potters Bar 4-3 after leading 3-1 with ten minutes left, the Rooks have come in for some flak on social media after withdrawing from the county cup a week after postponing their second round tie versus Worthing.

Russell stresses it is wrong to lay all the blame for the saga at the Rooks’ door.

The Rooks were forced to reschedule the Worthing tie last week because of a large number of injuries in the squad. Now they have announced they are withdrawing from this season’s competition.

“This has nothing to do with us pulling out because of no players,” Russell told us. “The Sussex FA came to us and told us they have a World Cup thing going on [on the proposed rescheduled date] where they sell tickets so wanted to move it later in the week.

"Our midweek games are on a Tuesday and so are Worthing’s, so we said ‘we train in the week preparing for Saturday so probably couldn’t do that’. The response was ‘take the game or don’t play.’ That was it. That is the reason we are out.

“It’s a bit above my pay grade. I’ve got nothing to do with it really. It is what it is. We weren’t really in a position to negotiate or get annoyed because we changed the original date.

"I’m sure the fans probably wanted to see it, but we just have to move on.”

Worthing fans have been among those to criticise Lewes online – saying they should have fielded a team comprising youngsters and squad players. The flak led to Russell last week saying opinions in football were like armpits – everybody had them but some stank.

Lewes’ withdrawal means that Worthing – losing finalists last season – advance to the third round.

The news came a day after a frustrating 4-3 defeat to Potters Bar. Russell admitted that morale in the squad after the game was low and that he had plenty of work to do.

“It was gut wrenching. It was absolutely brutal. It was the way it happened. They scored in the 85th, 91st and 95th. But also, it was hard in the sense that we’d played so well.” Russell said.

“The players are lower than a snake's belly right now. We have a big job this week. It’s so frustrating because there aren't many teams this year that have taken points from us that can look you in the eye and tell you truthfully, they deserved the win. For some reason we are just finding ways to not win games of football and it is just crazy.”

Joe Taylor (2) and TQ Addy had put the Rooks 3-1 up at Potters Bar before the late turnaround. Taylor was also on target in last Saturday’s Trophy tie against Bognor with Razz Coleman De-Graft also netting as the Rooks went 2-0 up only to be pegged back and lose 4-2 on penalties.

Lewes will look to turn the result around and get back to winning ways on Saturday as they take on 19th-placed Bowers & Pitsea at The Dripping Pan.

Russell said he had one major worry. “When we lose in the way we did my main concern is mentally how are we? The last game would have damaged us and there is no getting away from that. The main concern is making sure that we shake it off as quickly as possible and make sure we are moving forward.”