Football –Sod you! 5 Minutes of Mayhem

Saturday 31st March 2012

Lewes 3-2 Hendon

Ryman League Premier Division

The Dripping Pan

Saturday and one of the few away days I’ve braved this season. And boy am I pleased I did. Well, yes and no actually. Off the pitch things were marvellous. On the pitch they began similarly so, before descending extremely rapidly into chaos and bitter disappointment. This was not how Gary Mac's autiobiography ghost writers would have had him marking 15 years a Hendon man.

Hendon marched down to the South Downs to meet Lewes in a match that should they come away victorious, would probably be very much favourites to snap up one of the play-off positions. Coming down the hill from the town centre and the very hospitable chaps and chapettes at The Brewers Arms (good selection of ales I’m told, good selection of Euro-lagers and very good selection of BURGERS!) I felt like I was going to a proper football match. Scores of people were descending the hill towards the ground, mostly bedecked in red and black stripes.

The Dripping Pan, for those who haven’t been before is fairly unique amongst Ryman League grounds. You enter the ground at the top of the terracing, which is high enough to rival the prefabricated one at either end of Imperial Fields, before descending downwards to pitch level. It made me imagine that I was watching a lower league match in Scandanavia or Central Europe. Don’t ask me why.

Team news had come through on various smart hand held devices, (they’re still no smarter than the average Premier League captain as far as I can see) and perhaps the most obvious thing to note was the absence of Greg Ngoyi or Elliott Charles from the Matchday squad. At a time when you need goals, to be missing your first choice centre forwards is a real blow. That said, Belal Aite-ouakrim, who got the number 9 shirt, has been resembling a footballer once more in recent weeks and Carl McCluskey has been thriving just behind the centre forward as well.

Lewes, who have had a fairly torrid winter off the park with the dismissal of former favourite Steve King for reasons unrevealed which resulted in a number of players leaving the club have in recent weeks steadied the ship under the stewardship of Simon Wormull and hauled themselves back into play-off contention. Before kick-off they stood a couple of places and three points behind the Greens. With Steve Robinson, and Paul Booth still very much part of the furniture at the Pan, this was likely to be a scrap. A big scrap in front of a very good crowd. And so it proved.

Hendon settled the quicker of the two sides, as the 20 or so travelling fans melted seamlessly into the hoardes of Lewes faithful who had stayed behind the goal they were defending to enjoy a pint of the local liquid gold, and it all made for a very pleasant atmosphere. The Glaswegian Four were in fine fettle having already witnessed Rangers overcome Motherwell in the lunchtime SPL meeting treating the locals to their unique brand of banter.

Jerome Federico began really well down the right flank getting Lewis Hamilton reversing rapidly (ho-ho-ho, F1 humour) on more than one occasion. He flashed a shot wide of the near post and sent a couple of dangerous balls into the box as well that were well dealt with by the Lewes back four. Belal, showing himself to be somewhere close to the form he was in at the beginning of last season, was causing Max Hustwick no end of problems and he was denied a first league goal of the season only by a wonderful save from Matt Ingram in the Lewes goal. The ball bounced nicely for the number 9 to strike from about 10 yards out, powerfully towards the roof of the net, yet the reaction from the Lewes custodian was superb, pushing the ball onto the top of the bar on its way over the top.

The breakthrough came on the quarter hour mark and it was no real surprise. Belal and McCluskey linking up extremely well with an exchange of passes that ended with Belal stretching just inside the penalty area to get to the ball before Ingram and send it rolling into the back of the net. Scorer collided with keeper and needed treatment, before lasting another five or so minutes and being withdrawn. One wag (me) suggested cruelly that he was suffering a nosebleed after finding the target, on in his place came Isaiah Rankin, about 50 minutes earlier than we would have liked.

I felt that we were still on top for much of the half, without ever really threatening to take the game by the scruff of the neck and kill Lewes off. The closest anyone came to doing that was Rankin who turned Robinson smartly and sent a powerful drive no more than a yard wide with Ingram beaten. However, at the other end, Chris Breach in an unfamiliar midfield role headed home a free kick on the stroke of half time only to see the goal disallowed for a linesman’s flag up. I was in no position to see who, what or indeed when was offside but I wasn’t going to argue with the official unlike a number of those behind Rikki Banks’ goal. This should have provided the Greens with a warning, and if it did, it went totally unheeded.

I was behind the dugouts on my way around to the far end when the scores levelled just after half time. Chris Breach once again heading home from a set-piece to bring the home side level. This seconds after the same player had been denied by an excellent Banks save. Amusingly the Lewes bench were imploring the same assistant to raise his flag to disallow the effort, a genuinely amusing moment. However, any smile was wiped off my face not 60 seconds later when Nathan Crabb ended a game of pinball in the penalty area by slotting the ball home. The place erupted, and those in green looked utterly shellshocked.

Shell shock turned to abject horror as I finally arrived at the far end, Banks did very well to deny Crabb low down, but Paul Booth was the quickest to follow up ahead of any green shirted don and fire into the empty net. 3-1. It was 3-1. I checked the electronic scoreboard which confirmed that it was indeed 3-1. How had that happened? I could see our play-off hopes disappearing over the chalk-pitted hills and way off into the Sussex distance. This was like that match against Tonbridge yet a thousand times worse.

Undettered, Lewes continued to force the pace and look for more. Banks denied Booth with a smart block when the Rooks number 10 looked odds on to increase the Hendon misery. Somehow, the storm was weathered and we’d only had the roof blown off, windows smashed in and the walls decimated by the onslaught. Last season certain players would have lost their heads at this point, this time they kept them and plugged away.

Jack Mazzone came on for his debut having been a deadline day signing on loan from Woking and looked quite lively, forcing Ingram into a good tip over late on. Booth had another effort ruled out dubiously for offside at the other end and Banks who had spent the first period largely unemployed would have delighted our wonderful government with his work-rate in the second half. The scoreline was given a dash of respectability as the game moved into time added on when Scott Cousins picked out the top corner with nonchalant aplomb, but it was too little too late. Led by the ever impressive Steve Robinson the home side saw out the remainder of the four minutes in relative comfort to record a vital win.

It’s a long time since I’ve felt as deflated as I did at the final whistle. So many ifs and buts, yet ultimately, nothing. Credit Lewes for that second half, I haven’t seen anyone take us apart like that for quite some time, and if they are able to channel that kind of performance in their remaining five matches then I wouldn’t be surprised to see them finish in the top 5. It was extremely impressive yet I still feel the defeat was partially down to ourselves and the way we began the 2^nd half. At least we’re not out of it completely, but we cannot afford any more lapses like that again. Our run-in looks favourable on paper, but paper and grass are vastly different surfaces.

What I do know is that if we happen not to go up this season, and if Lewes happen not to go up this season, then I will be hoping with every sinew in my body that we meet in August next season. They’re everything I like in a Non League club. Well run, extremely good hosts and look set-up to take themselves (and this is an important point being a Community run club) forward strongly in the medium to long term. Good luck to them, a thoroughly good bunch.

For another view of the game, I would urge you to have a look at the excellent Ball Is Round site for their take on proceedings.