Welcome to The Dripping Pan for this afternoon’s Isthmian League Premier game versus Wingate & Finchley. Here is your complimentary e-programme.
CONTENTS
1. Notes from the Chair – Trevor Wells
2. The Squad – See the Players
3. Club Updates
4. The Visitors – Wingate & Finchley
5. One to Watch?
6. Head to Head
7. Kit Clash
8. On the Road… to Chatham Town
9. Legals and Credits
For the final Saturday this season a warm welcome to everyone at the Dripping Pan for this afternoon’s match against Wingate and Finchley.
It is that time of the season where supporters have one eye on the match and one ear on a transistor radio (or in todays day and age, their smartphone) listening out for rival teams’ results.
As most will know we have 45 points and there are already three teams below us that can no longer reach this tally. Hashtag currently fill the last relegation spot but they can technically reach 46 points so we need another point, except that we have a worse goal difference than Hashtag so we really need two more points. Hashtag, however, don’t want to stay in this division so we might not need any more points, but we could then be left in the hands of a FA decision to be made after the season has ended. Therefore a win and all three points to Lewes will make our place in next season’s Isthmian Premier League secure. So let’s get the job done.
Last time out at the Pan we romped home to a 3-0 victory in front of a bumper crowd with the players entering the pitch with the stirring word of Lee ‘Spooky’ Harris ringing in their ears. Lee gave a pre-match pep talk that along with strong Rooks support gave us local bragging rights. We need more of the same today.
It obviously has been a season of more downs than ups but as a club we have all stuck together and have just about kept everything together. However the club has savoured much success at Culver Road where our Women’s team joined our U18’s in becoming champions of Sussex (again) with a 5-0 victory over Saltdean. Hopefully many of you can make it to tomorrow’s game to congratulate them in person.
Therefore a huge shout out to the players, staff, supporters and my fellow directors who work very hard to make this club special. please stay behind after the game as we celebrate our players and supporters with the annual giving of awards.
Come on you Rooks!
Trevor
Louis Rogers: Rogers joined the Rooks from Hastings United in summer 2025. Known for his sharp reflexes and excellent shot-stopping ability, he spent several years as first-choice keeper at Hastings, playing a key role in their promotion push. Louis brings leadership, composure, and a commanding presence to the Lewes backline as he steps up to the Isthmian Premier League once again.
Alfie Mansell: A young goalkeeper, Alfie joins as understudy to Louie Rogers and to gain experince in senior football after time in the Brighton youth setup. Alfie has previously lined up for Eastbourne United and Burgess Hill Town.
Ryan Bernal: An athletic right back, Bernal joins the Rooks after impressing in the Combined Counties League. Quick and confident going forward, Ryan provides attacking width while maintaining strong defensive discipline. A promising addition to the squad, he will look to make the right flank his own.
Jack Enkh: A defensive left-back, Jack returns to the Rooks after a long spell out through injury to link up with manager Craig Nelson once again and bring some stability to the left side.
Alex Kpakpe: A fast and phyiscal left-back, Alex joins from Cray Valley PM having previously played for Hastings United, Aveley, and Wingate & Finchley in this division. Alex is a product of the Chelsea academy and was also played in a friendly for Rangers in 2023.
Jamie Watson: Jamie is a solid, aerially strong centre-half who brings experience in defence despite being only 24; a product of the Bromley academy, Jamie has also spent time at Alfreton in the National League North, as well as Tonbridge Angels, who he joins from on a dual-registration basis.
Olly Hamstead: Olly is another young defender rising through the ranks, joining the Rooks from Carshalton where he has had two spells. Olly started his career at Chipstead, before moving on to Burgess Hill and Kingstonian where he was a commanding force in those back lines. Tall, strong, and a calm presence on the ball, Olly is a great example of a modern centre-half.
Jerry Puemo: A returning fan favourite defender, Jerry brings experience at this level thanks to spells at Cray Valley PM and Carshalton. Tall, strong, and good in the air, Jerry is a solid centre-half.
Nikolai Krokhin: Niko joins us from Hendon, and has also played for Cheshunt and Hastings United at this level. Incredibly physical and defensive-minded, Niko will strengthen the Rooks backline.
Charlie Paye: Charlie joins us on loan from EFL side Bromley, where manager Craig Nelson previously loaned multiple players. A young centre-half looking to work his way up the football ladder, Charlie seeks first team experience with the Rooks.
Parish Muirhead: Returning to the club after a spell at Carshalton Athletic, Muirhead is a strong and tempo-dictating central midfielder, known for his game knowledge and passing ability. Parish has experience working under manager Craig Nelson and has earned several call-ups to the Grenada National Team.
Tyler Christian-Law: Tyler joined the Rooks in November, and is a vastly experienced midfielder at this level and above, with the 32 year old having spells with Braintree, Wealdstone, Potters Bar, Hornchurch, and most recently Dartford whom he joins from. A commanding presence in midfield, Tyler brings stability to the Rooks’ spine.
Jackson King: Joining us from Wycombe Wanderers on loan, Jackson is a defensive midfielder who can also operate as part of a back four. Despite being young, Jackson plays with a calmness and maturity that will strengthen and balance the core of Craig Nelson’s side.
Alfie Allen: Allen is a central midfielder who can operate in both defensive or attacking-minded roles; a great passer of the ball and a calm presence in midfield, Alfie rejoins the Rooks after a spell at Tonbridge Angels.
Beaux Booth: Beaux joins from Farnham Town, and brings goalscoring threat to the midfield, on top of creativity. A product of Brentford’s B Team, Beaux joined Sholing after leaving the Bees before quickly impressing enough to get a jump up to Step 3 with Farnham, before linking up with the Rooks in 2026.
Charlie Walker: Walker is a vastly experienced striker, and joins the Rooks as a number 9 outlet. Walker is no stranger to the professional game, having played for Luton Town in his career, as well as spells at Eastbourne Borough, Boreham Wood, Aldershot, and two spells with Whitehawk. Walker notched up 21 goals in 71 league games with the Hawks before joining Lewes, and will hope to continue that form.
Bobby Unwin: Bobby returns to Lewes after a good spell at Tonbridge Angels, scoring thrice and putting in multiple great performances at Step 2, before rejoining the Rooks to add pace, ball-carrying, and goal threat to the side.
Danny Bassett: Danny is no stranger to the Rooks, joining in the summer of 2024, before returning to the Pan after a spell away from the game. Bassett has experience at this level, previously lining up for Carshalton Athletic, and scored 22 goals for the Rooks last season.
Taurean Roberts: Taurean is a winger who has been around non-leauge football for a long time, previously featuring for Horsham, Hampton & Richmond, Chippenham, among others. Direct, fast, and a leader in the squad, Taurean links up with long time friend Pitts to bring threat to the wide areas.
Devonte West: Operating on the right flank, West is a young, powerful winger with explosive pace and a keen eye for goal. A product of the London grassroots scene, Devonte joins us from Hollands & Blair and adds an exciting dimension to the Rooks’ attacking play.
Back to Back Champions of Sussex!
A massive congratulations to our women’s side for their successful victory in the Sussex Women’s Challenge Cup for this season, making them back to back champions. The Rooks took the title with an emphatic 5-0 win over Saltdean United this past week, with a particularly impressive performance from Leah Lane, who notched a hattrick as well as two assists in a fantastic outing. Everyone at the club congratulates Emma Byrne and her squad once again for this brilliant acheivement.
Goal of the Season vote now on
The Club’s Goal of the Season vote is now live on our socials; you can vote for your winner of the best goal you’ve seen this campaign between these four nominees:
-Parish Muirhead vs Brentwood Town (H)
-Charlie Walker vs Burgess Hill Town (A)
-Devonte West vs Brentwood Town (A)
-Devonte West vs Aveley FC (H)
See the goals and cast your vote on all the socials, including Twitter linked here:
Final Bow at the Pan this season
As I’m sure you all know, this afternoon marks the final game at the Dripping Pan for the men this season. The Club would like to immensely thank all players, coaches, staff members, volunteers, and of course the fans for their consistent, tireless effort and support throughout the season, despite it being one of ups and downs. Your support has helped to all but confirm our place in the Isthmian Premier Division for another year, and we look forward to another season of pushing ourselves next campaign. And on a personal note, thanks to all of you that read these progcasts every week. It’s a privelige to do them and I have a load of fun every season with them.
Let’s end the season on a high note by showing your fantastic support this afternoon to hopefully get another three points. COYR ❤️🖤
Wingate and Finchley FC
- Wingate & Finchley are a club with two distinct histories that eventually became one. Finchley FC, the elder of the two, was founded in 1874 by Pa Jackson, a man who also had a hand in creating the Corinthians, the London Football Association, and later served as secretary of the FA himself.
- Finchley became founder members of the Athenian League in 1912 and enjoyed their finest hour in 1952/53, when they reached the Third Round Proper of the FA Cup, defeating Chelmsford City, Kidderminster Harriers, and Crystal Palace before losing 2-0 to Shrewsbury Town at Gay Meadow.
- Wingate FC, meanwhile, was formed in 1946 by a group of Jewish men who believed sport could be a force against antisemitism. Named after General Orde Wingate, who oversaw the creation of the Israeli Army during the Second World War, the club competed in the Middlesex Senior League before rising to senior level.
- Tragedy struck in 1972 when their Hall Lane ground in Hendon was lost to the M1 extension, forcing the club to drop back into junior football for a period.
- By 1991, with Finchley struggling in the Isthmian League Second Division and carrying mounting debts, the two clubs agreed to merge. Wingate & Finchley were born, taking to the field at the refurbished Summers Lane ground, renamed the Maurice Rebak Stadium in 2016 in honour of Wingate’s co-founder for the 1991/92 season.
- Progress through the Isthmian League followed steadily, and 2010/11 proved to be the club’s most remarkable season to date. Promotion to the Isthmian Premier was won with a 118th-minute winner over Brentwood Town in the play-off final, completing a unique Treble that also included the Ryman League Cup and the London Senior Cup.
- The club have been a solid Premier Division presence since, with 2016/17 bringing a fifth-place finish and a play-off semi-final appearance. 2023/24 was arguably their best season in years, finishing fourth with a record 76 points and reaching the play-off semi-finals, narrowly losing 1-0 to Enfield Town in front of over 2,000 fans.
- Last season saw them drop back to 12th, and this seasons even further to 15th, but they have seemingly secured their place in the division for next year thanks to some late-season form.
Gianluca Botti
A man who should be familiar to anyone who watched the Rooks last season, Gianluca Botti made his short spell with Craig Nelson’s side a very memorable one, notching up 7 goals and 4 assists in just 12 games with the Rooks. Gianluca then moved up to Tonbridge Angels in the National League South before returning to this league with Wingate, where he is their top scorer by a long way with 17 goals this season, including a brace against us in the return fixture all the way back in November (I know, it’s been a long season). The Italian has basically dragged the Blues out of the relegation fight on his own, so expect him to be as dangerous as ever.
| Date | Competition | Home | Away | Att. | |
| Sat 15 Nov 2025 | Isthmian Prem | W&F | 3-0 | Lewes | 304 |
| Sat 5 Apr 2025 | Isthmian Prem | Lewes | 0-0 | W&F | 1008 |
| Sat 21 Deb 2024 | Isthmian Prem | W&F | 2-2 | Lewes | 232 |
| Sat 3 Feb 2024 | Isthmian Prem | W&F | 3-0 | Lewes | 179 |
| Sat 11 Nov 2023 | Isthmian Prem | Lewes | 1-2 | W&F | 733 |
Ah. well that can’t be good. We’ve not beaten the Blues in over three years, and none in our last five – and further, depressing research shows we’ve not won at their ground since 2018. Our last outing was back in November, where an aformentioned brace by Gianluca Botti following a Loic Hernandez opener provided one of the more pointless days out of my life recently. Hopefully this record goes out the window today.
(ft. Best and Worst of the Season)
HOME
It’s the last edition of everyone’s favourite segment, and Wingate have got an interesting lineup here. The home strip is all over the place, with a pattern where I have no idea what they were going for. The centred badge and manufacturer is nice, but the weird pattern and bright pink sponsor bring it down a fair bit. 5/10
AWAY
Much better. I do like a pink kit, and this saves the sponsor from looking weird by making the whole thing pink. This is miles better than the home strip and is one of the better ones this campaign. 8/10
Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the best and worst kits of the season. An honourable mention first to our own gold shirt, which I won’t put in the top three for bias reasons (although it is bloody lovely and probably deserves to be there).
Filling out the top three we have the Folkestone home kit, which is very nice and deserving of a title-winning side, and Dartford’s home kit purely because I like the fact that Dartford have a darts sponsor, but the winner for me is Hashtag United’s beautiful away strip. Well done lads.
And for the bottom three, we’ve got some less-than-beautiful efforts. We have three away strips fighting for the wooden spoon here, and while Chichester’s black and yellow number is not great, Dulwich’s green, white, pink, and blue effort is just confusing, the winner has to be Carshalton’s quite strange army green strip. A truly awful, and deserving, winner(?).
To Chatham Town
Who are they?: Chatham Town, also known as the Chats, are the destination for our final away trip this season. The Medway outfit currently sit in the final playoff place, ahead of fellow Kent side Dartford by just two points, so this final day fixture could absolutely crucial to them. The Chats had a quick rise in non-league, gaining three successive promotions to get up to Step 3 in 2022, and have been in and around the promotion hunt in this division ever since.
How do we get there?: From Lewes, head into London Bridge where you can change to a Ramsgate service that will get you to Chatham station, which is then a roughly 25-30 minute walk through the town to the Bauvill Stadium.
What’s around?: There’s not tons in the way of decent pubs in the Medway town – the one I’ve ended up in a few times is more of a sports bar called The Dead Pigeon, however I have heard The General at Sea is a pretty decent one for more traditional pubgoers. The club itself does have a fully decked out bar that is one of the better ones in the league if you can’t find any refreshments on your way to the ground.
Legals and Credits
“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 Trevor Wells
Directors Trevor Wells, John Peel, Stan Lahood, Jim Cheek, Ben Hall, Lisa Emery
Club Secretary John Peel
COO Kelly Lindsey
Fan Engagement Manager Shrey Nilvarna
Social Media Team Stan Lahood, Tom Mason, Daniel Lloyd, Joe Warsop-Davies, Aidan Elve, Noah Bercott
Life Members
Peter Brook, Dorothy Brook RIP, Vic Blunt, Pat Dartnell, Gary Elphick, Gordon Fowlie, Peter Hiscox RIP, Billy Nixon, Derrick Parris RIP, 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 Craig Nelson
Assistant Manager Bryan Nzinga
First Team Analyst Coach Rafaz
First team Coach Elyon Marshall-Katung
Goalkeeping Coach Sheikh Ceesay
Under-18s Manager Dale Hurley
Golden Rook Rob Read
Web Editor Shrey Nilvarna
Progcast Editors Stan Lahood, Harvey Lock, Charlie Sundaram
Club Photographer James Boyes