Saturday 13th November 2021 3pm – The Isthmian Premier League at The Dripping Pan

Welcome to The Dripping Pan for today’s Pitching In Isthmian Premier League game with Haringey Borough. Here is your complimentary e-programme.

NOTES FROM THE BIG CHAIR

The last two weeks have shown what we have been saying all along in the season – how competitive this season will be. We came out of two tough games at Bishop’s Stortford with a point last Saturday, perhaps not deserved on the balance of play but on the flip side, we dominated the FA Trophy tie with 10 men and felt we should have converted our chances and taken the game to penalties, or even win it in 90 minutes. We then beat an impressive Carshalton Athletic side here thanks to Michael Klass’ fine effort, who them went on to score six against Brightlingsea Regent and five against unbeaten Folkestone Invicta. And then there was Tuesday night.

Any team who has changed their manager normally steps up their game, hoping to impress. In most instances, it isn’t the manager who is solely responsible for poor performances – the players have to take a responsibility too. So when a manager leaves due to performance, the players will have played a part in that. So they will want to impress any new manager coming in – and that is what we saw on Tuesday at East Thurrock United.

I’m sure Tony will say, and those fans who made the trip will agree, we under performed. East Thurrock had some fortune in the two penalties they won, but on the balance of play, they created more chances than we did and that will be a concern our management team will be addressing.

But let’s be honest here. We come into today’s game in 6th place. A win could see us go into third place. That is the highest position the team have been in recent seasons – at the same point last season we were 16th, in 2019/20 we were 15th. Even in our first season back at Step 3 at the 15 game mark we were 7th. Let me repeat that – we are in the highest position we have been at this stage of the season for over ten years…Ten years. We are not a poor team, we’ve not become a poor team since we beat Margate, Brightlingsea Regent, Merstham and Enfield Town. We’ve got an excellent squad, one that has brought attacking football back to the Pan. Sometimes we may not hit the levels we want but let’s keep a sense of perspective on where we are and where we have come from.

Last night our Under18s took on Bromley in the replayed FA Youth Cup game at Hayes Lane. It was a superb match, with our young Rooks twice taking the lead and looking like they would take Bromley to extra-time but two late goals, one a contentious penalty, saw them go down 4-2 in the end. Well done to Dale, his coaching team and the squad for reaching the First Round.

On Tuesday night we also picked up an injury off the pitch as Cynical Dave came off worse tackling the terrace steps. Our physio Tom Parker jumped into action and worked his magic on Dave during the half-time interview enabling him to bravely carry on for the second period and I hope to see him back in action this afternoon.

On Friday night we also agreed a contract extension for Ollie Tanner until the end of next season (May 2023). Ollie has been fantastic for us this season, scoring some spectacular goals and we know there’s more to come.

Just a reminder that we have the AGM coming up soon and an opportunity for any of our owners to stand for the board of directors. You can find details further down on this progcast.

Get behind the team, be loud and Come On You Rooks!

Stuart

TONY THOUGHTS

Good afternoon. I’d like to welcome Tony Loizou and his Haringey Borough team to the Pan today. His sides are always well prepared and I know this will be a big test for us but one that we have been looking forward to.

So East Thurrock United. Tuesday was the worst game of football I have ever been a part of in my time as a manager. We have a very specific way of playing. For the first time in my eleven years of being a manager I had to stand in front of my players and tell them not to pass the ball and to go long to try to find a way to win the game.  So as I won’t be playing 4-4-2 and banging it long because it is impossible to pass it I don’t see the need to work on anything from Tuesday’s game.

I was honest and told the players to forget that the game ever happened and to look forward. The game was very disheartening for us all and we were all a bit flat coming away from the match but we had a chat about it as a group and we went on to have a really positive session on Wednesday.

I want to say sorry to anyone who travelled to that game. I was sitting there contemplating quitting football and taking up sticking pins in my eyes as at the time it seemed a more fun option. In terms of the game itself, both penalties were poor decisions and the decision to flag JT offside when he was put through in the first minute of the second half was wrong – we’ve reviewed the whole game on video and it is frustrating to see those key decisions going against us. We can’t change anything now and have to put to down as a bad day at the office and focus on our 28 remaining games.

Your support here and on the road has been fantastic – we really appreciate it.

Tony

FOOD FOR THOUGHT – WELCOME TO CHEF GIANCARLO CALDESI

One-time Romford FC centre-half Caldesi first came across Lewes’ equality initiative when he bumped into a Lewes director in his London restaurant back in 2019, and enjoyed an unexpected conversation about the beautiful game and gender equality.

Caldesi was so inspired by the club’s radical stance on equality that the chef and restaurateur promptly invited the entire women’s team and coaching staff to ‘Caldesi in Marylebone’ to eat as his guests, and then came to a match to watch the team play.

Now that crowds are allowed back at the Pan the celebrated chef – famous for his cookery school, recipe books and successful food-based battle against diabetes – is looking forward to getting back to Lewes. he said, ‘I love to sponsor Lewes FC. It’s a club which advocates pay equality and it’s my dream to see this become a reality one day soon. Forza Lewes!’

Caldesi is giving one of his famous recipes to our ‘Pasta Boys’ – Gus and Angelo, our regular matchday chefs – to cook for the players’ post-match meals and has his recipe book ‘Rome: Centuries in an Italian Kitchen’ to present to every player as a gift.

Club director Karen Dobres said, ‘We’re so excited to welcome Chef Caldesi back to the Pan. He loves quality food and quality football and has the kind of generous spirit which sees the benefit of equality to all. We think our lucky players are in for a culinary treat!’

Caldesi will co-commentate today with Sam Simons, and tomorrow he’ll be back in the gantry to assist Ben Jacobs for Lewes v Coventry, kicking off at 1.30.

THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF LEWES COMMUNITY FOOTBALL CLUB

The AGM of Lewes Community Football Club will take place on Monday 22nd November at 7.30pm UK time

The AGM will take place online: access details for all Owners will follow nearer the date.

This will be the first time that the Club has held its AGM online; it has traditionally been an in-person event in the Rook Inn at The Dripping Pan. Current capacity in the Rook Inn is at about 35 people for events. With at least 10 of those spots taken up by directors and staff, that would end up with us giving privileged in-person access to only around 25 of our more-than-1,800 owners. Naturally under those conditions speakers’ presentations would be skewed towards the in-person participants, and it would be more challenging for online participants to follow and engage in a meaningful way; blended events are really difficult to run logistically and equitably. Holding the event wholly online, including all directors and staff, will allow for a single administrator and a chair/presenter to run the AGM, moderate chat questions, give the floor in a fair way and give equal opportunity to all owners to raise questions/concerns.

Board Elections

The Club currently has seven elected directors. Of those, John Peel has come to the end of his three-year term and may choose to seek re-election. The Club is looking to fill four director positions in total at this election, which will bring us back up to ten elected directors.

Any Owner (as of midnight on 14th November) is able to stand in this year’s election as long as they are over 18 years of age. Elections are held every year and one third of the board positions come up for election each time. A full term of office lasts three years.

Current owners wishing to stand for election have already been invited to submit an election address setting out why they wish to stand and what they want to achieve if elected to the board. If an election address is greater than 500 words, or longer than 3 minutes if it’s a video, the club asks for a shorter summary too for publication. Candidates should include the name of a proposer and seconder, both of whom must also be owners of Lewes Community Football Club Limited.

Candidature and election addresses should be emailed to our Chair stuart@lewesfc.com and be received by midnight on Sunday 14th November 2021.

Each candidate’s election address will be circulated to owners by email on Monday 15th November 2021, and will also be posted on the club’s website. An online hustings will be held on the evening of Thursday 18th November. Participation in the hustings is optional for candidates.

If there are more candidates than vacancies then a vote will take place. Voting will take place prior to the AGM (voting will end at 12 noon on the day of the AGM), and a link to vote will be circulated in advance. Each owner can vote for up to four candidates. The four candidates receiving the most votes will be elected to the Board. If there are fewer or the same number of candidates as vacancies, all duly nominated candidates will be elected unopposed. All appointments to the Board are subject to passing the FA’s Owners & Directors Test and adherence to the Club’s Election Policy.

The current directors are available to answer any questions that potential candidates may have. Please contact Stuart at the above email address if you’d like to arrange this.

AGM Agenda

– Presentation of 2020/21 Impact Report

– Presentation of club strategy

– Presentation of 2020/21 audited accounts, which can be found here.

– Announcement of new Board members

– Any Other Business

We will also be asking owners to approve the following resolution:

“The AGM notes recent advice that we’ve received from the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) that our Club rules and side policies are in need of a review. The AGM notes that the Board intends to take up the offer from the FSA of a governance review and that following this review a report will be made to owners at a General Meeting in advance of the next AGM.”

If you’re under 16 years of age you can attend the AGM but will not be eligible to vote.

Thanks for your support.

Here’s the link to become an owner if you are not already: Become an Owner.

THE ISTHMIAN LEAGUE SHOW

The weekly Isthmian League Show is aired at 7:45pm on a Friday night. You can catch the latest show below and subscribe for future episodes.

LEWES 1 CARSHALTON ATHLETIC 0 – TUESDAY 2ND NOVEMBER 2021

A superb second-half goal from Michael Klass saw Lewes move into the play-off places with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Carshalton Athletic at the Pan, reports Tom Harper.

Tony Russell made two changes to the side that lost 2-0 at Bishop’s Stortford in the FA Trophy on Saturday, with Bradley Pritchard and Iffy Allen replacing Ayo Olukoga and Deon Moore in the starting line-up.

The visitors started brightly and came close to taking an early lead through Daniel Bassett, who saw his powerful effort pushed away by Lewis Carey after finding space in the area.

Lewes were enjoying plenty of possession but finding it difficult to create any clear-cut opportunities, with a Taylor Maloney free-kick going just wide being the closest they came to opening the scoring before the break.

Carshalton always posed a threat in the final third and Carey had to be alert to keep out a close-range effort from Lewis White, before making a smart save at his near post to deny the same player minutes later.

The final action of the half saw Tommy Bradford clip the outside of the post with a strike from a tight angle for the visitors.

The early stages of the second half were dominated by Carshalton, who saw both Bassett and Paris Hamilton-Downes denied by Carey.

The pressure continued to mount from the visitors, with Daniel Hector curling an effort just wide from the edge of the area, before White hit the post with a strike from a similar distance.

The introduction of Joe Taylor and Razzaq Coleman De-Graft just after the hour immediately gave Lewes more of a threat going forward, and saw them enjoy their best spell of the game.

The Rooks nearly took the lead with just over 20 minutes remaining, as good play down the left from Ollie Tanner ended with him cutting the ball back for Maloney, whose strike was blocked on the line before De-Graft sliced the rebound wide.

Lewes continued to push for the opening goal and scored it on 74 minutes through Michael Klass, who unleashed an unstoppable shot from 25 yards which flew past Lloyd Thomas and into the bottom corner to score his first goal for the club.

The Rooks saw out the closing stages comfortably and had opportunities to add to their lead, as a De-Graft half-volley was well saved by Thomas, before Maloney dragged an attempt wide in injury-time after being played through by Taylor.

Lewes: Carey, Yao, Carlse, Salmon, Nelson, Pritchard, Maloney, Klass, Tanner (Moore 90), Allen (De-Graft 64), Parker (Taylor 64).
Unused Subs: Weaire, Olukoga.
Booked: Nelson, Maloney, Allen.

Carshalton Athletic: Thomas, Hamilton-Downes, Price, Jones, Cheadle, Williams, Sessegnon (Ottaway 69), Bradford (Bennett 82), Bassett, Hector, White.
Unused Subs: Sankoh, Read, Adenyi.
Booked: Hamilton-Downes, Hector.

Attendance: 455

ON THIS DAY IN ROOKS HISTORY QUIZ…13th NOVEMBER 2012

Lewes earned a point after a goal-less draw at home to Hendon in the Isthmian Premier League at the Dripping Pan in front of a crowd of 323. But who were these four players who started that game for Simon Wormull’s side?

BISHOP’S STORTFORD 1 LEWES 1 – SATURDAY 6th NOVEMBER 2021

A late equaliser from Iffy Allen saw Lewes return from Hertfordshire with a point after a 1-1 draw at Bishop’s Stortford, reports Tom Harper.

Tony Russell made four changes to the side that beat Carshalton Athletic 1-0 in their previous game, with Matt Weaire, Deon Moore, Razzaq Coleman De-Graft and Joe Taylor replacing Will Salmon, the suspended Michael Klass, Iffy Allen and Freddie Parker in the starting line-up.

The hosts started brightly and came close to taking an early lead through Jake Cass, who saw a powerful effort from the edge of the area pushed wide by Lewis Carey.

Cass was causing the Lewes defence plenty of problems, heading a Jonathan Giles cross wide at the far post before being denied by Carey again moments later.

The Rooks were finding it difficult to get into the game but created their first chance of note midway through the half on the counter-attack, as Moore latched onto a long throw forward from Carey and drove into the area before drawing a smart save from Jack Giddens.

The remainder of the half saw the hosts come closer and closer to taking the lead, forcing a succession of corners which ended with Cass seeing another effort cleared off the line.

The final chance of the half fell to Stortford, but the unmarked Ryan Henshaw could only head straight at Carey from Giles’ free-kick.

The hosts continued in the same vein after the break, with Carey parrying a powerful strike from Ben Marlow, who then somehow headed a Giles cross against the post from point-blank range minutes later.

Carey was alert again to save bravely at the feet of Anthony Church as Lewes struggled to contain Stortford in the final third.

A rare foray up field from the Rooks saw Parker latch onto a flick-on from Taylor and make space for himself in the area before hitting the side-netting.

The hosts deservedly took the lead on 66 minutes, Church heading in from close-range after Mark Haines had hit the bar from a Giles free-kick.

Stortford continued to look the more threatening side, as Cass beat Mitchell Nelson to a long ball forward before seeing his attempted lob over Carey land on the roof of the net.

Lewes stayed in the game heading into the closing stages but were unable to build any kind of pressure as they looked to level the scores.

It was therefore against the run of play when the Rooks equalised on 86 minutes, as Taylor latched onto a Parker through-ball on the right-hand side of the area and sent in a low cross that was bundled over the line from inside the six-yard box by substitute Iffy Allen.

The remainder of the game passed without incident as Lewes came away with a point they will undoubtedly take after withstanding so much pressure before scoring late on.

Bishop’s Stortford: Giddens, Chandler, Church, Robbins, Henshaw, Giles (Foxley 73), Marlow, Cass (Harris 81), Thomas, Charles, Haines.
Unused Subs: Bird, Wallace, Baker.
Booked: Thomas, Harris.

Lewes: Carey, Carlse, Weaire, Nelson, Tanner (Allen 77), Maloney (Olukoga 86), Taylor, Moore (Parker 46), Yao, Pritchard, De-Graft.
Unused Subs: Colombie, Hall.
Booked: Yao.

Attendance: 304 (Approx. 31 Rooks)

INTRODUCING OUR VISITORS – HARINGEY BOROUGH FC

THE HISTORY

Haringey Borough FC are based in the shadow of their illustrious neighbours Tottenham Hotspur. Formed in 1973 by a merger of Edmonton and Wood Green Town the club started life as Edmonton & Haringey. The new club took Edmonton’s place in Division One of the Athenian League, and adopted their current name (Haringey Borough) after finishing bottom of the division in 1975–76. The league was reduced to a single division in 1977 and the club finished bottom of the league in 1981–82.

When the Athenian League was disbanded at the end of the 1983–84 season, Haringey joined Division Two North of the Isthmian League. With many of the players and the management team leaving shortly before the start of the 1988–89 season the club dropped out of the league, before joining the Premier Division of the Spartan League for the 1989–90 season. In 1990–91 the club won the London Senior Cup.

In 1995 they were briefly renamed Tufnell Park, taking the name of one of the clubs that had merged to form Edmonton, but reverted to the Haringey Borough name the following year. When the Spartan League merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League, the club were placed in Premier Division South for the 1997–98 season; a seventh-place finish saw them placed in the Premier Division for the following season.

Haringey Borough were relegated to Division One at the end of the 2006–07 season, which had seen them finish bottom of the Premier Division. However, they wereDivision One runners-upthe 

following season, earning an immediate promotion back to the Premier Division; the season also saw them win the Division One Cup. In 2011–12 the club won the league’s Challenge Trophy. At the end of the season they were transferred to the Essex Senior League. The 2014–15 season saw the club win the Essex Senior League, earning promotion to Division One North of the Isthmian League.

In 2016-17 Haringey lost a play-off semi-final 5-4 to Maldon and Tiptree but the following year won another play-off, beating Canvey Island 3-1 for promotion to the Isthmian Premier. The club play at Coles Park, The CVS Van Hire Stadium, on White Hart Lane, London N17.

THE SQUAD

Tom Loizou – Manager

Tom is well-known for his hands-on duties throughout the football club, a man with a wealth of experience and knowledge of the game; his passion for Haringey Borough FC is legendary.

Jonathan Miles – Goalkeeper

Jonathan is a December 2019 signing from Ramsgate, a goalkeeper whose other clubs are   Ebbsfleet United, and Margate, after leaving Tottenham Hotspur Under 18s.

Tyrese Owen – Defender

Ty is seen as a tall ball-playing central defender or midfielder who was with National League South Hemel Hempstead Town last season. He played for a season in Swedish football and numbers Potters Bar Town, and Carshalton Athletic among his previous clubs.

Michael O’Donohue – Defender

Michael is a full back who re-joined Boro after a year away at National League side Concord Rangers. He was formerly a full-time professional with Colchester United.

David Olufemi – Defender

David is an attack-minded full back who re-joined Boro this season after a year away with National League side Concord Rangers. He also numbers Colchester United among his former clubs.

Scott Mitchell – Defender

Scott is with Boro since 2017, a central defender who previously with Dagenham & Redbridge and an important member of their squad.

Callum Ismail – Defender

Callum is described as a skilful young full- back previously with Bowers and Pitsea who joined Boro in September 2018 and made his first start in December 2019.

Rakim Richards – Defender/Midfielder

Rakim is a versatile player with Boro since 2010, often adopting a defensive role but quite at home in midfield, and a menace in opponents penalty area at corner kicks. 

Anthony McDonald –  Midfielder

Anthony is in his 9th season with Boro; considered an excellent finisher and first team regular but whose appearances have been interrupted by injuries.

Georgios Aresti – Midfielder

Georgios is a Cypriot International midfielder who numbers AEK Athens among his previous  clubs. He was a 2017/18  deadline day signing and a near automatic selection last season.

Alfred Bawling – Midfielder

Alf is an attacking midfielder who joined Boro from Enfield Town at the start of this season having previously been with Crawley Town, Woking and St. Albans City.

Sami Bessadi – Midfielder

Sami is an attacking midfielder who has come right through the  ranks with the Under 18s and Under 23s and now challenging for a regular first team role.

Adeyinka Cole – Midfielder

Ade is a much travelled attacking midfielder signed from Heybridge Swifts a few weeks into the current season who has appeared for many other Isthmian clubs including Grays Athletic, Enfield Town, Aveley, Romford and Leiston; as well as clubs now in the National League.

Christos Djamas – Midfielder

Chris is a Cypriot Under 21 International signed in October 2020. A midfielder who has appeared for several clubs in the Cypriot League including Apoel Nicosia.

Jorge Djassi-Sambu – Midfielder    

Jorge is a described as a midfield powerhouse and non-stop box to box player now in 7th season with Boro.

Mekhi Leacock-McLeod – Midfielder/Forward

Mekhi joined Boro from Romford and is a wide attacker who numbers Halifax Town, Accrington Stanley and Eastleigh among his previous clubs, as well as Fulham, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Glasgow Rangers at Under 23 level.

Andronicos Georgiou – Forward

Andy is a forward who graduated from Stevenage Academy playing in their EFL team and spent last season with Wycombe Wanderers. He has loan experience at St. Albans City and Middlesbrough Under 23s.

Jamie-Lee O’Donohue – Forward

Jamie is in a second spell at Boro and is thought of as a strong running striker, previously with Baldock Town, and Cleethorpes Town.

THE FORM

THE LAST MEETING – 11th MARCH 2020

LEWES 2 HARINGEY BOROUGH 1

In what was to be the final game of our 2019/20 season, the Rooks finally recorded a victory, bringing to the end a run of 15 games since their last win (ironically, also against Borough) and the first of the Hugo Langton era. The Rooks scored twice in the first period thanks to goals from James Hammond and Dimitri Hatzimouratis, with Haringey pulling one back in the 70th minute from substitute Chiduben Onokwai. The attendance of 228 was the lowest league attendance of the season.

EAST THURROCK UNITED 2 LEWES 0 – TUESDAY 9th NOVEMBER 2021

The Rooks dismal record at East Thurrock United continued on Tuesday night when two penalty kicks, converted by the Rocks striker Alex Hernandez gave the Essex side a surprise win, reports Stuart Fuller.

With Michael Klass and Mitchell Nelson suspended, Rooks boss Tony Russell welcomed back from illness Will Salmon in the backline in a relatively unchanged side from the one that grabbed a point on Saturday at Bishop’s Stortford.  In the other dugout, veteran manager Jim Cooper had joined the East Thurrock bench on a temporary basis after manager Paul Martin left the club following Saturday’s defeat to Leatherhead.

The “new manager” bounce was certainly evident in the opening exchanges and the hosts took the lead in the 13th minute when Lewis Carey was adjudged to have hauled down a forward rushing through despite getting a hand to the ball.  Hernandez stepped up and sent the Rooks keeper the wrong way.

Lewes began to control the game but found the uneven pitch a slight hinderance to their style of play.  Whilst wide men Razz Coleman De Graft and Ollie Tanner had the beating of their men, they couldn’t find the white shirts in the area and the half finished with only one real threat on goal, a Taylor Maloney free-kick from 25 yards that whistled past the post.

The Rooks certainly started the second half in the ascendancy but failing to put pressure on Arthur Janata’s goal.  Russell changed his wide players with twenty five minutes to go, hoping that the fresh legs of Iffy Allen and Deon Moore would crack open the Rocks defence but it was the home side who seemed to step up a gear, having an effort cleared off the line, hitting the post and then winning another penalty as Matty Weaire was adjudged by the assistant referee to have pushed his man as he went passed him, something that few, if any people, saw in the ground.  Hernandez doubled the lead and his scoring tally for the evening.

Freddie Parker’s header in the 87th minute forced Janata into his first meaningful save of the evening but it wasn’t to be for the Rooks and whilst the manner of the two goals will be in question, there’s no doubt that Jim Cooper’s influence on East Thurrock’s energetic performance saw them finish the better side.

A missed opportunity for the Rooks to climb up to third in the table as the dismal record of just one win and one draw in our last seven visits to East Thurrock United.

East Thurrock United: Janata, Wyss, Daniel, R Lacey, Robinson, Barton (M Lacey 46 mins), Owusu, Ashman (Matthews 86 mins), Kettle, Joseph, Hernandez

Sub not used: Nazor

Booked: Daniel, R Lacey, Barton, Josepth

Lewes: Carey, Yao, Carlse, Weaire, Salmon, Pritchard, Maloney, Parker, Tanner (Moore 59 mins), Coleman De-Graft (Allen 66 mins), Taylor

Subs not used: Hall, Colombie, Olukoga

Booked: Salmon

Attendance: 193 (33 Travelling Rooks)

ON THE ROAD TO…LITTLEHAMPTON TOWN – TUESDAY 16th NOVEMBER – SUSSEX SENIOR CUP

Next week we make the trip along the coast to Littlehampton Town in the second round of the Sussex Senior Cup. The Marigolds are sailing high in the Southern Combination Premier League at the moment, having won 14 of their 18 games so far, scoring over 60 goals in the process, mainly thanks to the prolific Joe Benn up front.

We’ve met Littlehampton Town previously in the Sussex Senior Cup in December 2015 with the hosts winning 3-0 thanks to a hatrick from George Landais – who impressed so much we signed him soon after!

Just a reminder that it is a 7:30pm kick off at The Sportsfield.

About The Sportsfield
The Sportsfield is a relatively basic ground, not uncommon from many other grounds at Step 5 although it is unusual in the fact the pitch is part of the cricket pitch and thus is located remotely from the club house and has one side that is undeveloped. There are three stands – one older seated one, flanked by two more modern covered terraces. Each holds around 200 fans. The clubhouse has a decent bar and the cheeseburger is a meal in itself by all accounts!

How to Get To The Sportsfield
It’s a 28 mile journey from the Dripping Pan although the traffic along the A27 will mean it should take around an hour. Follow the A27 until the junction with the A280 then head towards Angmering. At the Roundstone roundabout take the third exit towards Littlehampton onto the Roundstone Bypass. Continue across a number of roundabouts, then at the junction with the Travelodge go straight across into Horsham Road. The ground is on your left just past the Parkside Church.

If you are coming by train then Littlehampton is at the end of one of the lines from Hove/Brighton/London. Exit the station and walk through the town centre on The High Street. This will become Church Street. Follow this until the roundabout with St Florans Road and the ground is opposite. It is a 15 minute walk from the railway station.

Admission At The Sportsfield
Admission for the game will be £6 for Adults, £3 for Concessions and £2 for Under16s.

Fancy A Beer?
For those fancying a pre-match pint you may want to head for the town centre which is a 10 minute walk away. The White Hart and the George Inn (Wetherspoons) are in Pier Road, at the end of the High Street, whilst the Dolphin Hotel is recommended for its food, beer and being the most haunted hotel in England!

PATHWAY UPDATE

The Young Rooks have had a busy schedule since our last update. We pick up from the league fixture vs Three Bridges on 28th October.

The first time this season we didn’t win a fixture as we drew 2-2 with a well organised and hard working Three Bridges side. Lewes went 1-0 down in 10 minutes and suffered a double blow when goalkeeper, Fin Jenkins, was injured in a goal mouth scramble leading to the goal and had to come off with a dislocated shoulder. The Rooks managed to turn the game on its head before HT going in 2-1 up with goals from Kaiden Hummerston latching on to a long ball that was helped on by Harrison Page. Page then put Lewes infront from the penalty spot.

The second half was a slow start from the Rooks and they were punished for their lack of intensity when gifting Bridges with an equaliser. 2 minutes later Lewes were down to 10 men, Gabe Brennan with a second yellow card. In the end a good point for the Rooks who remain unbeaten in the league.

Monday 1st November, Lewes v Bromley, FA Youth Cup 1st Round. A frantic game of football that displayed all that is to love about youth football. Bromley won the fixture 2-1 but that wasn’t the end of the story…

The evenings match official had misread his rulebook and sin binned Rohilla in the second half for dissent, a rule that is not in play in the FA Youth Cup. Following an FA panel discussing the outcome, the game ordered to be replayed on Friday 12th November.

1,883 days since the last defeat in Sussex FA County Cup, the u18’s played Hastings in the 2nd round, a game that wouldn’t be misplaced as a final of the competition. A tactical battle in which the young Rooks overcome convincingly with a 5-1 victory. Ezra Roeg back from a lengthy layout scored a superb hat trick, goals from Margeson and Page completed the rout before a late consolation for the visitors. We play Seaford Town in the 3rd round in December.

THE STODGEBUSTERS TAKE ON WORTHING

Little did we know what lay in store for us on Saturday lunchtime when we met up at Lewes station for the short trip along the coast to old rivals and title favourites Worthing.

Five Stodgebusters were aboard the 12.03 from Lewes. This included Turnstile (Jonah) Alan in his trademark yellow jacket whose presence on a train usually results in some disruption somewhere on the rails. What would happen today? PJ produced the Fox’s Glacier Fruits while we discussed the probabilities. Two attacking teams with somewhat suspect defences. It could be any score you like in either teams favour, but very high odds against a nil-nil draw.

A swift change at Brighton and within the hour we were exiting Worthing station. The Alan effect hadn’t materialised on the outbound journey anyway.

No-one had checked to see if Montys Cafe was still open post Covid19 but there it was, right outside the station, with the open sign up and plenty of spare tables. Deep joy. This was classic Stodgebuster territory with your typical all day breakfasts and lunches. It’s not the kind of place nominated for any Cordon Bleu awards and one wonders what Gordon Ramsey would come out with if he visited, but it’s right up our street. Not being one to dither, PJ was up to the counter in a flash as he had quickly decided on one of his favourites: The American Breakfast. Pancakes, fruit, scrambled egg and crispy bacon with a pot of maple syrup. This should be good. “Sorry, we are out of pancakes” was the reply from the man behind the till and Perspex shield. Oh dear. What would Gordon Ramsey say? Something unprintable probably. OK, it would have to be a standard Full English then with a mug of tea. £5.50. What a bargain. Everyone else had slight variations on the Full English, notably fried bread instead of toast for the even less health conscious amongst us. It was all pretty good so we gave it an 8 on the Stodge-o-meter although PJ only wanted to give it a seven for running out of pancake mix. After all, it’s only flour, eggs, milk and about a minutes whisking. Steve spotted some bread pudding for sale and bought a couple of chunks for him and Gary the Badge for half time.

Many calories and much saturated fat later we set off for the short walk to the ground.

We arrived at the Crucial Environmental Stadium Woodside Road about an hour before kick off for some banter with the usual suspects. Gary couldn’t hold out until half time and had to tuck into the bread pudding. Well, who could blame him? It had been a full half an hour since lunch and he was getting peckish.

Onto the game. Where do we start with that? A dream start when Ollie Tanner’s leg was taken from under him in the box right in front of us and Joe Taylor dispatched the resulting penalty. This was quickly followed up with a back post bullet header by an unmarked Matt Weare from a free kick. Two up in fifteen minutes. Worthing were reeling and the home fans end was like a library. Too good to be true? Yes, of course it was. Within five minutes disaster struck when Klass was caught out trying to shield a ball back to Carey and a Worthing player nicked the ball off him and crashed it into the net. Lewes had a couple of chances to make it 3-1 but both were cleared off the line. A big hoof forward on the half hour was allowed to bounce over his head by an under pressure Klass, and in trying to recover fouled his man. Penalty, and duly tucked away. Two nil and we had mucked it up. Worse followed. Worthing now had their tails up and attacked down their right in acres of space, the cross came in and there was ex-Rook Golding with no-one near him to fire it home. It had to be him didn’t it? He had spent most of the first half charging around like a man possessed and arguing with the referee at every opportunity. We fancied that he was on course for a red card later. 3-2 down at half time after leading 2-0. How had that happened? The half time team talk would sort it out wouldn’t it?

No it wouldn’t. Within seconds Golding was away down the left in loads of space. A good cross and an acrobatic header from yet another completely unmarked home player flew just inside the far post for 4-2. We thought that was game over. Worthing were on top and bossing things at this point and looking more likely to score than us. Sure enough on 72 minutes a free kick wasn’t cleared but merely knocked down to an unmarked (again!) Golding who couldn’t miss for 5-2. 

With plenty of time left we feared it could be a rout. Credit to Lewes though, they kept at it. Tanner had roasted his full back many a time but we hadn’t got the ball to him anywhere near enough. A run into the box by him and his cross was clearly handled by the first man for another penalty. This was hotly disputed by the Worthing supporters nearby who, in the ensuing argument with us, reckoned the ref must have been on the Lewes payroll and then informed us that our first penalty wasn’t a penalty either. How they could possibly decide that from 100+ yards away we don’t know, unless Steve Austin style bionic eyes are available on the NHS in Worthing. (If you don’t know who Steve Austin was then ask an elder). We had to agree to differ. Anyway, Taylor slotted the penalty for 5-3. A mere consolation we thought. A Lewes corner was headed out and Tanner from 25 yards hit a magnificent unstoppable half volley into the top corner.

We were back in it with 12 minutes left. Even the home fans behind us couldn’t find anything wrong with that and had to acknowledge a good strike.  It was all Lewes now but we couldn’t force an equaliser as Worthing ran down the clock.

A cracking game of football and well refereed considering the potential fireworks. However, we thought the yellow should have been flashed once or twice to deter the constant surrounding and haranguing of the referee by the home team every time there was a tackle. Golding was constantly in the referee’s face but got off Scot free.

We travelled home reflecting on the spectacle we had just witnessed. Disappointed at losing for sure, but this is the best Lewes team we have seen for years. Ollie Tanner is some acquisition and we hope we can keep him. Both teams should be in the shake-up come April. Worthing might be title favourites but their defence looked as dodgy as ours at times and good teams will find them out as Folkestone did early in the season. Our defending needs a lot of improvement to cut out all these errors. If it can get as tight as a Stodgebuster belt then we will be more than ok.

The Stodgebusters will return at Bishops Stortford.

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AND FINALLY….AN ARAB WINTER

In the excellent Price of Football podcast a few months ago, Kieran Maguire gave a summary of his delve into the accounts of FIFA. He noted that the organisation loses money every few years because of the lack of major tournaments, pointing out that “only the World Cup and the Confederations Cup, just, make money”. Alas, it now appears that shortlist of two has been reduced to one as the latter has been consigned to the football tournament scrapheap along with the Intertoto Cup, the Simod Trophy and the Guinness Soccer Sixes.

But fear not football fans, the traditional fluffer to the FIFA World Cup will still take place but in a new format that suggests it may not be something that will be repeated.

The new tournament that will act as the warm-up (as if you needed any further heat when the average daily high in Qatar in December is 25 degrees) instead is the FIFA Arab Cup. This is not a rebranding of the existing Arab Nations Cup, but a specific tournament that will test the venues in Qatar prior to the FIFA World Cup starting in November 2022.

Twenty two nations, taken from both the African and Asian Federations but with the common trait of being Arab nations, will take part in the tournament which will run for 18 days in December 2021. The top 10 teams based on the December 2021 FIFA ranking will directly qualify to the group stage, while the remaining 12 teams will play in the qualifying round, with six teams going through to the group stage. In the group stage, there will be four groups of four teams, with the top two teams from each group qualifying to the knockout stage.

The final of the tournament will be held in the 60,000 all seater, newly constructed, Al Bayt Stadium that is located north of Doha exactly a year before the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final.

The concept of the Confederations Cup was not only to bring together the winners of the individual confederation trophies, but also gave the host nation a chance to test their facilities – the new stadiums, the transport infrastructure, the hotels and the facilities for football fans. Unfortunately, the likelihood of many travelling fans will be limited from the nations invited to play. Qatar is the richest country in the world, based on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita which basically translates to being very expensive. With some of the nations due to take part at the other end of the scale, few fans may be able to travel, even now that the diplomatic crisis in the region is over. Therefore, as a test event it may not meet all of the objectives that the host nation needs.

The Confederations Cup had grown in importance and significance since it was first held back in 1997 in Saudi Arabia (the Saudi’s had previously held a similar tournament since 1992 under the name of the King Fahd Cup), then in 2001 it became the official World Cup warm-up when Japan and South Korea hosted the tournament 12 months before the FIFA World Cup. Moving to the four-year interval tournament in 2005 in Germany, there was an increased interest both from travelling fans but also the global media. The final of that tournament saw Brazil beat Argentina 4-1 in front of an almost sell-out stadium in Frankfurt. Four years later in South Africa, Brazil triumphed again, beating surprise package USA in front of over 50,000 fans in Johannesburg.

The tournament was taken very seriously by the nations, who fielded strong sides, and it help fill an international gap in between the World Cup and the respective continental tournaments. However, with the move to a Winter World Cup in Qatar, it simply wasn’t possible to have a comparable tournament – it would be too hot to play in the summer months and some major tournaments such as the UEFA European Championships and the Copa America were shifted from 2020 to 2021, therefore a winter tournament was needed. The concept is sound for this World Cup but it will be interesting to see what is put in place for the 2026 tournament, which will be hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States of America. One idea that has been floated is the bi-annual CONCACAF Gold Cup could be used as the warm-up tournament.

Come December when we are back to normal schedules of matches in England, and not football live on our TVs every night, I am sure we will tune in to watch the Arab Cup, if only to see what the FIFA World Cup stadiums will look like. Will it make any money? I will leave that one for Mr. Maguire to tell us in 18 months time.

CREDITS AND LEGAL

“The Isthmian Football League strongly supports the FA statement that there should be a zero tolerance approach against racism and all forms of discrimination. Accordingly any form of discriminatory abuse whether it by reason of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion and belief, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, sex and sexual orientation or any other form of abuse will be reported to The Football Association for action by that Association.” (The FA 0800 085 0508 / Kick it Out 020 7253 0162).The Isthmian League and all Member Clubs in the League are committed to promoting equality by treating people fairly and with respect, by recognising that inequalities may exist, by taking steps to address them and providing access and opportunities for all members of the community.”

Lewes 2000 FC Limited. Registered in England and Wales with Company Registration Number 03790979. Lewes 2000 FC Limited is 100% owned by Lewes Community Football Club.

Honorary President Terry Parris
Chair Stuart Fuller
Directors Sue Anstiss MBE (co-opted), Ed Briggs, Charlie Dobres, Karen Dobres, Stuart Fuller, John Peel, Ed Ramsden, Claire Rafferty (co-opted) Trevor Wells
Chief Executive Officer Maggie Murphy
Club Secretary John Peel
COVID Officer Lynne Burrell
Youth Secretary Kevin Brook
Operations Manager James Barker

Equality FC Campaign Manager Karen Dobres

Life Members
Mr and Mrs Brook, Vic Blunt, Pat Dartnell, Gary Elphick, Gordon Fowlie, Peter Hiscox RIP, Billy Nixon, Derrick Parris, Terry Parris, Jimmy Quinn, P. Swaysland, Steve Ibbitson, Jason Hopkinson, Steve White, Martin Elliot, Kevin Fingerneissl, Kevin Powell, David and Barbara Arnold, Roger and Cathy Feltham, Ethel Treagus, Roy Dartnell RIP, Ron Moore, Derek Southouse, Ray Smith, Ken Carter RIP

Manager Tony Russell
Assistant manager Joe Vines
Head of Recruitment Adam Drew
First team coach Dale Hurley
First team coach Nathan White
First team physio Tom Parker
Goalkeeping coach Grant Hall
Match logistics Vik Dogra
Kitman Clive Burgess
Data Analyst Shaun Harrison
Under-18s Manager Dale Hurley
Under-18s Assistant Manager Craig Stevens
Under-18s coaches Jake Legrange and Johnny Buggy

Golden Rook Rob Read
Web Editor Stuart Fuller
Progcast Editors Paul Sheppard and Stuart Fuller
Club Photographer James Boyes

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