Lewes FC boss: It's been fun but missing play-offs is a let-down

Lewes may have had one of their best Isthmian premier campaigns for a long time – but manager Tony Russell says he still feels missing promotion amounts to coming up short.
Lewes were among the goals v Kingstonian / Picture: Angela BrinkhurstLewes were among the goals v Kingstonian / Picture: Angela Brinkhurst
Lewes were among the goals v Kingstonian / Picture: Angela Brinkhurst

A 3-3 draw at home to Kingstonian on Saturday followed by a 1-0 loss at Bognor on Monday (see a gallery from the game here) left the Rooks unable to finish in the top five, something they’d look like doing a few weeks ago.

Many at Lewes are delighted at the progress the club have made this season but Russell said: “It’s been my first year and I’ve enjoyed it – it’s a great club.

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“But I set myself high standards and even if we’d got into the play-offs and not gone up, I’d have seen that as not a great achievement.

“I believe we had a good enough squad to do it. We changed the whole team and staff so it was always going to be tough but I have to look at myself, even if the points per game record and average attendance figures have both gone up significantly.”

Russell acknowledged that the Rooks’ brush with success gave them a good foundation to build on next season,

“My feeling is that next year we will be a lot better on and off the field – we can do good things next year” he said.

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“At times our defending has not been good enough – as against Kingstonian on Saturday – and we’ve had some poor refereeing decisions against us.

“But we’re now looking at who we want to keep and who we’d like to bring in and starting to plan.”

Lewes aim to end with a win – their final game brings Bowers & Pitsea to the Pan tomorrow.