Welcome to The Dripping Pan for this afternoon’s Isthmian League Premier game versus Enfield Town. Here is your complimentary e-programme.

A huge welcome back to the Pan to everyone for the start of the 2026/27 Isthmian league season and our usual Lewes warm welcome to all our visitors from Enfield.

The off-season seems to be shorter and shorter and for our brilliant staff and management teams work goes into preparing for today the moment the final whistle of last season was blown. This summer seemed to be calmer than the last few years as we have benefited from continuity. When Rooks fans look at this afternoon’s team sheet they will see many familiar names plus some additions that I expect will bring youthful excitement and seasoned experience to the squad.

Of course the staff at Lewes FC are prized assets and are constantly admired by organisations in the upper echelons of football. This year was no different in we lost our brilliant COO and head of Performance, Kelly Lyndsey, who takes on the role of Head of Performance and Development and the Women’s Super League. Of course she is going to smash it and is another former Rook that we can be very proud of.

Whilst this afternoon’s opener promises to be a cracker it serves as a tasty starter to a couple of August Sussex derbies. Firstly we travel to the Enclosed Ground to take on nearest rivals Whitehawk and then we look forward to the bank holiday Monday feast at the Pan when we take on Eastbourne Borough. I would urge you to plan early for this one and get over to our newly revamped website and grab some tickets whilst you can.

That brings me to my final point which is to express my thanks and gratitude to all involved in carrying out the much needed update to the website. Let’s hope this afternoon’s game is as sizzling as the weather.

Come on you Rooks! –Trevor

Pitts reflects on preseason campaign, excited to get started

Pitts spoke to the club on Thursday, talking about his side’s preseason games, what they gained from them, and how excited him and the players are to get started properly this afternoon. Watch the interview here:

🗣️ “We can’t wait to get going now”

Craig Nelson reflected on pre-season and previewed Saturday’s opener against Enfield Town in our latest catch-up here. 👇#COYR 🔴⚫️ pic.twitter.com/yFssK3FOT6

— Lewes FC Men (@LewesFCMen) August 6, 2026

Goalkeeper

Louis Rogers – A familiar face to the Sussex non-league scene, Louis returns to the Pan from last season. An agile keeper with excellent reactions, Louis is a very credible shotstopper as well as being able to play out from the back. Rogers featured in every league game last season for the Rooks, keeping 8 clean sheets.

Defenders

Tom Bender – A vastly experienced centre-half, Tom joins the Rooks to add strength and aerial ability, as well as a great deal of leadership to the back line. After gaining EFL experience with Colchester United and Millwall, Tom spent seven years with St. Albans City, making over 250 appearances.
Ryan Bernal (Sponsored by Richard Scrivener) – Ryan returns to the Pan after a successful 25/26 campaign to provide attacking intent to the flanks. Bernal was a threat down the right-hand side last season, picking up 8 assists and scoring 7 goals himself.
Tyler Cox – Tyler joins the Rooks as a versatile utility man capable of playing on either side in a full-back or wing-back position, as well as being more than capable as an out-and-out winger. Fast, direct, and with a solid cross, Cox can help bring the exciting ball-playing style to the Pan.
Jack Enkh – Jack returns to the Pan for a third season after recovering from a long-term injury at the back end of the last campaign. Enkh is a very solid defensive left-back, being very strong in the tackle and great in the air, as well as being more than capable of leading an attack from the left-hand side.
Olly Hamstead – Returning for his second season with the Rooks, Olly brings a great deal of physicality and ball-playing ability to the heart of the defence. Joining from Carshalton midway through the last campaign, Olly has shown why he fits in perfectly with Craig Nelson’s possession-based style with plenty of line-breaking passes, aerial challenges, and threat from attacking set pieces.
Ben Mundele – A face who has been around Lewes for a while now, Ben rejoins for his third spell with the club after time at Tonbridge Angels and Ramsgate. Ben joined the club initially in 2021, but a long-term injury halted his time in the squad. A former England C international, Ben brings solid defensive structure to the right-back position
Josh Spinks – Another local face to the Sussex scene, Josh rejoins the Rooks for his second spell after previously returning to Burgess Hill Town. An incredibly composed and intelligent centre-half, Spinks previously captained the Rooks in his first spell with the club, and it’s easy to see why.

Midfielders

Alfie Allen – A stalwart in the Rooks side for the last two years, Alfie returns for his third season at the Pan, continuing to be an important part of Craig Nelson’s midfield setup. A hardworking box-to-box centre-mid who is also comfortable in a more creative role, Allen provided 7 assists last campaign.
Andrew Briggs – Briggs joins the Rooks from neighbouring Whitehawk after a successful 25/26 season with the Hawks. Andrew is a creative midfielder with an especially good dead-ball delivery, which he used to great effect last season, racking up 9 assists for the Sussex outfit, and brings that attacking threat with him to the Pan.
Tyler Christian-Law – Christian-Law returns to the Pan for his second season as a leader in the midfield. An industrious defensive and central midfielder, Tyler was club captain last campaign and led the team from the middle, and hopes to continue to be a leader as an experienced figurehead in Nelson’s squad.
Brian Garzon – Brian links up with the Rooks after a very successful 25/26 season at Step 4 with Walthamstow, scoring 18 goals from midfield. A product of the Southend United youth system, Brian is a very attacking-minded midfielder with a keen eye for goal and is also an adept penalty taker.
Parish Muirhead – Returning for his third year at the Pan, Parish has become an incredibly familiar face in the Rooks midfield over the last few years. a number 8 by trade, Parish brings on-the-ball composure, aerial presence, and an excellent passing range to the centre of the Rooks squad, and his consistently good performances in his time with the Rooks has earnt him multiple call-ups to the Grenada national side.
Tyrese Owen – An incredible physical presence, Tyrese joins the Rooks from last season’s promotion-winning side Billericay Town, where he was arguably their player of the season from midfield. Standing at 6’6, Tyrese brings fantastic strength, aerial domination, and overall physicality to the midfield, while still retaining a lot of ball-playing ability.
Mackenzie Richardson – A product of the Lewes youth system, Mackenzie began making first-team appearances at the back-end of the 25/26 campaign, where he slotted right in in a creative role. A versatile young player, Richardson is capable in an attacking role, on the flanks, or as a more central presence.

Forwards

Danny Bassett – A fan-favourite at the Pan over the last couple of years, Danny returns for his third season with the Rooks in hope of rekindling his form from his debut year, where he notched a fantastic 24 goals in all competitions, including 20 in the league. Capable as an out-and-out striker or down the left wing, Danny brings considerable attacking threat to the front line.
Billie Clark – Billie returns to the Pan after a short spell at Eastbourne Town at Step 4, where he made an impact after joining midway through last season, including a hattrick in his first game. A direct and very quick young winger, Billie brings a lot of danger from ball-carrying and whipping crosses in from either flank.
Noel Fisher – Noel joins the Rooks as an incredibly exciting young talent, having a standout season with Horsham YM, scoring 18 goals and notching 7 assists in 28 games from the right wing. Noel was a wanted man by a lot of clubs over the summer, but chose to link up with Craig Nelson to bring technical excellence and fearless attacking play to his side.
Calum Newson (Sponsored by Nicole Roaf) – Joining from Essex outfit Canvey Island, Calum is a direct and physical number 9 who performed well in a below-par Canvey side, which led to his move to the Pan. Calum previously played in the USA for Kentucky Wesleyan College, racking up 35 goals in two seasons over in the states.
Bobby Unwin – A familiar face in the Rooks squad, Bobby returns for his third season with the club after rejoining last season following a spell at Tonbridge Angels. A direct, pacy winger capable of playing on either side, Bobby has notched 6 goals and 8 assists in his Lewes career so far, and hopes to expand on that this campaign.
Charlie Walker – A vastly experienced head in the dressing room, and a familiar face across the Sussex scene, Charlie returns to the Pan after joining last season from Whitehawk. A former EFL professional with bags of experience in the National League including Aldershot Town and Boreham Wood, Charlie is a player who knows where the goal is, bringing an instinctual fox-in-the-box style of play to the front line.

Welcome Back!

The Club would like to welcome everyone back to the Pan for 2026/27, and thank everybody who supported through an up-and-down campaign last season. We know it was a bit of a difficult one at times, but hopefully we can start as we mean to go on with a win this afternoon. We encourage you to get behind the boys as much as you can this season, and this afternoon, as we know you always have and always will.

Hope + Glory Merch Store Now Open

The new Lewes FC online merch store is now open, thanks to our new merch and kit providers, Hope + Glory. Avaliable now is the first line of club merchandise including t-shirts, hoodies, caps, and more, and be on the lookout for a restock of our (quite fantastic) replica kits.

You can find the online store here: https://store.hopeandglorysportswear.co.uk/lewes-fc

Club Website Refresh

Sticking with the online theme, the official club website has had a big revamp over the summer, which you can see for yourself at https://lewesfc.com/. The Club would like to thank everyone involved with this revamp, and hope the website is now as clear and functional as possible for all of you.

Enfield Town FC

• Founded in 2001, Enfield Town FC were the first ever fan-owned club in English football. Fans of the old Enfield FC formed the breakaway club after declaring that the regime in charge of Enfield no longer had the interests of the club in mind, lacking sufficient will to return the club to its home town after leaving Southbury Road two years prior.
• Enfield Town were placed in the Essex Senior League (ESL) and made a flying start, finishing runners-up in their debut season and winning it at the second time of asking. During their time in the ESL, the Towners won two championships, two league cups and a Middlesex Charity Cup.
• Enfield were promoted to the Southern League East in 2005 and qualified for the play-offs in their first season, unfortunately losing to Wivenhoe Town. The club repeated this, this time in the Ryman league, the following season, losing to AFC Sudbury.
• The club relocated to Queen Elizabeth II stadium in 2011, realising a dream for Enfield Town to have a home of their own, not far from the former Enfield FC stadium in Southbury Road.
• After finishing runners-up in 2011-12, the Towners defeated Grays Athletic and Needham Market in the play-offs to secure promotion to step 3. In their first season in step 3, Enfield survived by the skin of their teeth, staying up on the final day with a 2-1 win at Cray Wanderers.
• The play-offs were achieved the following season. However, the club was stripped of this after a three-point deduction saw them drop to 7th place. The club once again qualified for the play-offs in 2016-17, eventually losing 4-2 to Dulwich Hamlet.
• The following season, the Towners went the furthest they’d ever gone in the FA Cup – playing a fourth qualifying round replay and eventually losing to Maidstone United – and won the Isthmian League Cup for the first time.
• The 2021-22 season was the 20th anniversary of Enfield Town and the 10th anniversary of their time at the Queen Elizabeth II stadium. This ended up being one of the club’s best seasons to date, finishing 3rd place in the Isthmian League and making it to the 3rd round of the FA Trophy.
• The 2023-24 season was a historic one for the club, after spending most of the season in the hunt for the play-offs, the Towners finished in 3rd place and were finally victorious in the play-offs, beating Chatham Town in the final, sealing promotion to the National League South for the first time ever. That same season, the club also competed in the European Fenix trophy, alongside our Rooks.
• Enfield just about survived their first season in step 2, finishing in 19th place, however they were unable to build on this and finished 23rd last season, confirming relegation back to the Isthmian Premier.
• Enfield will be looking to repeat the success of their last Isthmian season, and their first challenge will be at the Dripping Pan this afternoon.

Sam Youngs

As the club’s highest appearance-maker, Sam Youngs is a fan-favourite amongst Enfield supporters. Last season, the midfielder won the Supports’ and manager’s player of the season, as well as the golden boot. Youngs will look to cause trouble at the Pan this afternoon and will pose a real threat to Craig’s men.

There doesn’t appear to be anyone in the blue and white of Enfield who has also pulled on the Red and Black before, although knowing my luck they’ll sign one magically an hour before kick off just to prove me wrong for the first time I do this segment.

Date	Competition	Home	Result	Away	Att.
Sat 9 Mar 2024	Isthmian Prem	Enfield	1-0	Lewes	650
Sat 21 Oct 2023	Isthmian Prem	Lewes	4-0	Enfield	751
Sat 11 Mar 2023	Isthmian Prem	Lewes	1-0	Enfield	836
Sat 15 Oct 2022	Isthmian Prem	Enfield	2-4	Lewes	434
Sat 8 Jan 2022	Isthmian Prem	Enfield	1-4	Lewes	501

Wow, what a way to start the season – a team we actually have a very good record against. We tended to beat the Town more often than not in their most recent spell at Step 3, including scoring four goals against them three different times. Our most recent outing against them was actually our only loss in recent times, a 7th minute goal from Marcus Wyllie proving to be the difference when we visited the QE2 stadium in 2023/24.

HOME

New season, same story of ‘I don’t know if they are using the same kits as last season or not’. It’s the first game so I have no idea, but these are the kits the Town have used in preseason so I’m going with it. This home strip is quite nice, featuring the traditional blue and white of the old (and in fact still active) Enfield FC, and the Enfield beast on the badge. The weird hill-looking lines that run along the kit are decent enough in the white to get a passing grade. 7/10

AWAY

Somehow much worse, despite being the exact same design just in a different colour. The day a club makes a decent yellow and blue kit is the day I can finally rest. 4/10

8 August

8 August 2015 – Lewes kick off the 2015/16 Ryman Premier season in less-than-ideal style, losing 3-0 away to Leatherhead at Fetcham Grove. Goals from Kiernan Hughes-Mason, Vasieleious Karagiannis, and Mark Nwokeji sealed the opening day loss for the Rooks. I promise this segment will include wins sometimes.

8 August 2015 – Elsewhere on the opening day of the Premier League, champions Chelsea are held 2-2 at home by Swansea City, but the bigger story comes after the final whistle: Jose Mourinho publicly criticises club doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn for running onto the pitch to treat Eden Hazard, branding them ‘impulsive and naive.’ The row escalates into one of the season’s biggest off-field sagas and marks the start of a rough campaign, and Mourinho’s sacking in December.

8 August 2006 – Huddersfield Town’s Gary Taylor-Fletcher (you remember him) writes his name into the history books, scoring the 500,000th goal in the history of English league football with a 25-yard drive into the top corner as the Terriers beat Rotherham United 3-0 at the Galpharm Stadium.

To Whitehawk

Who are they?: The Hawks probably don’t need much introduction, but I’ll do it anyway because I have to; they are based in Whitehawk in East Brighton, and are one of the Rook’s biggest rivals. Having been promoted in 2023, the rivalry has rekindled in recent years as both sides have fought at similar ends of the table, as well as of course the local pride of the derby.

How do we get there?: The Hawks’ Enclosed Ground is a fair way away for Brighton standards, with all the train stations in the city all being equally useless in terms of distance. However, the buses 21, 23, and 1/1X all run fairly near the bottom of the hill the ground is located on, so that may be your best bet if you are local.

What’s around?: Kemptown is absolutely the detour of choice for any pubgoers, as there are plenty of good establishments on the roads up to the Whitehawk area. Hand in Hand, Brighton Bierhaus, The Independent, and many more are all in that general area of Brighton, so take your pick honestly.

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, Danny Maltby
Club Secretary John Peel

CFO Russell Davies
Social Media Team Stan Lahood, Daniel Lloyd, Joe Warsop-Davies, Noah Bercott, Luke Hawkins, Ethan Rawlings, Will Hugall, Sam Coldy

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, David Altendorff

First Team Analyst Dan McDonnell
First team Coach Elyon Marshall-Katung
Goalkeeping Coach Sheikh Ceesay
Under-18s Manager Ryan Reid

Golden Rook Rob Read
Web Editor John Peel, Daniel Lloyd

Progcast Editors Stan Lahood, Harvey Lock, Charlie Sundaram

Club Photographer James Boyes