Lewes make it three straight wins and are finishing Isthmian season with flourish

First they secured back-to-back wins for the first time since January with two second-half goals enough to see off relegated Kingstonian.

Walter Figueira struck early in the second half and Ronnie Vint followed up with a superb finish. Despite a late fight-back from the K’s and a fiery end to the game, the Rooks held on to get six points out of six for the week.

The first-half didn’t have too much spark but we started well with Kalvin causing problems down the left and he almost found the opener just nine minutes in, cutting in on his right but struck into the hands of the K’s ‘keeper.

Ten minutes later Chris Whelpdale rose highest in the box and was denied by a fantastic save again. Minus a Marcus Sablier corner that briefly looked like it was floating in, that was basically it for the first 45.

Rooks restarted on the front foot and the opening goal came just six minutes in from a beautifully worked move. Arthur Penney put a driven pass into Figueira who flicked it into Ola Ogunwamide who took a brilliant first touch into the box before squaring it back to Figueira to finish.

Ola was terrorising the K’s back-line down the right and it was almost a second shortly after when he beat his man inside the area before clipping it onto the head of Jake Elliott but he couldn’t quite keep it down. Lewes were almost made to pay with the visitors seeing plenty of action at the other end with Nathan Harvey called into action on several occasions but most of them safely stopped.

Moments later, Ola was almost rewarded for his display playing a clever free-kick on the edge of the box with Sablier, but curled one inches wide. Ola once again, then linked up with Figueira on the left hand side of the area before striking the side netting.

Lewes were caught out on the break heading into injury time when the K’s left-back, was found inside the box and finished at Harvey’s near post. This sparked a scuffle in the celebrations between K’s forward Eddie Dsane and Sanchez Ming which started a lively end to the game.

Shortly after Figueira was kicked to the floor and reacted by kicking out in retaliation which resulted in the goal-scorer receiving his marching orders by the referee. It could have been more comfortable but in the end Russell’s side were able to see out the three points

On Tuesday, they produced an impressive performance to win their final Sussex derby of the season as goals from Chris Whelpdale and Ola Ogunwamide helped them to a hard-fought 2-1 victory over rivals Horsham at the Pan.

Russell made two changes to the side that beat Kingstonian, with Ayo Olukoga and Bradley Pritchard replacing Ronnie Vint and Walter Figueira in the starting line-up.

These changes saw Arthur Penney slot in at centre-back alongside Jake Elliott, with Whelpdale taking Figueira’s place in a more advanced role.

Lewes started well and came close to taking an early lead through Ogunwamide, who exchanged passes with Whelpdale on the edge of the area at the end of an incisive counter-attack before seeing his powerful effort parried by Lewis Carey.

Horsham are well-placed to qualify for the play-offs and soon began to pose a threat themselves, with Shamir Fenelon getting in behind Penney and putting a cross just too far in front of the onrushing Daniel Ajakaiye, before shooting just wide on the stretch himself minutes later.

The heavy rain and slick playing surface made for an entertaining first half and the Rooks were next to go close, Whelpdale just failing to get sufficient contact on a Kalvin Lumbombo-Kalala cross in front of goal.

Lewes took the lead on 37 minutes in bizarre circumstances, as Lumbombo-Kalala saw a goal-bound strike blocked, and Carey then reacted well to make a fine double-save, but was only able to claw the second of these onto Whelpdale, with the ball hitting him and looping into the net.

A brief consultation between the referee and linesman nearest the incident followed, with some Horsham players appearing to be appealing for a handball, but the goal stood.

The Rooks remained on the front foot at the start of the second half and came close to doubling their lead within minutes of the restart, as Harvey Sparks did superbly to somehow turn a Lumbombo-Kalala cross over his own bar from inside the six-yard box.

Lewes scored the second goal their pressure had been threatening on 56 minutes, Ogunwamide rounding off an excellent team move by cutting in from the right and firing a rasping strike past former Rook Carey and into the back of the net.

The Rooks were playing some exceptional football at this point, moving the ball quickly through midfield before working it wide to give both Ogunwamide and Lumbombo-Kalala plenty of opportunities to run at the Horsham full-backs.

The visitors came into the game knowing a win would go a long way to securing a play-off place, so it was perhaps unsurprising that as the game progressed, they started to see more of the ball and threaten a comeback.

They ensured there would be a nervous finale by pulling a goal back on 75 minutes, a Lee Harding cross from the right being headed past the previously untroubled Nathan Harvey by substiute Jack Mazzone at the far post.

Mazzone nearly scored an equaliser minutes later, his long-range free-kick taking a wicked deflection off the wall before looping just over the bar and landing on the roof of the net.

Lewes defended resolutely late on, withstanding a barrage of long throws and set-pieces.

It was from a corner that the visitors very nearly scored an equaliser at the start of five minutes of injury-time, as Jack Brivio saw his close-range header cleared off the line.

Lewes saw out the remainder of the game relatively comfortably to record a superb victory and ensure they finish with an impressive 20 points out of a possible 24 from Sussex derbies this season.

Russell’s team host Hashtag on Saturday and visit Haringey a week later to end their campaign.