MATCH PREVIEW: TOTTON FACE LEWES IN THE FA TROPHY

LEWES vs AFC TOTTON_FATr2_Sat16Nov2024.jpg

VENUE:

The Dripping Pan, Mountfield Road, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2XA

Please purchase Match Tickets from Lewes FC’s website

AFC TOTTON WILL VISIT THE DRIPPING PAN this weekend when they continue their Isuzu FA Trophy journey with a Second-Round tie at Isthmian League Premier Division side Lewes.

The East Sussex-based club finished eighth last season and currently sit sixth – just outside the Promotion Play-Off places – with a game in-hand over all five of the teams hovering above them.

The Rooks made an excellent start to their 2024/25 campaign with five consecutive league victories against Chatham Town, Bognor Regis Town, the infamous Hashtag United, Cray Wanderers and Whitehawk. Harefield United of the Combined Counties League Premier Division North threw a spanner in the works as far as the Emirates FA Cup was concerned, winning a First Round Qualifying replay on penalties after the two sides had fought out a one-all draw in the London Borough of Hillingdon and a goalless second match at The Dripping Pan.

Back to league action, two draws were followed by an away win for Lewes at Bowers & Pitsea and then a heavy 0-5 defeat at Potters Bar Town, before The Rooks made progress in the Sussex Senior Cup with a 3-1 home win over Three Bridges. They began their own Isuzu FA Trophy journey with a nine-goal thriller at home to Bracknell Town, triumphing by a final score of 6-3 courtesy of four goals from former Norwich City U21 striker Shae Hutchinson.

While Lewes have only taken two points from their three subsequent league matches, they did overcome Ashford United in the FA Trophy First Round via a penalty shoot-out, after a 2-2 home draw. Making his debut for Lewes in that game was another former Norwich City – and AFC Totton – player Marcel McIntosh, who had departed the Snows Stadium by mutual consent just the week prior.

Lewes are managed by Craig Nelson, who was appointed in May. He established himself as a player at Tooting & Mitcham before progressing into coaching and his first managerial role at Glebe, from Bromley. Upon his appointment by The Rooks, he told the club’s website:

“I’ve been managing at Step 5 with Glebe. We play possession-based football, high-intensity, fluid, and make sure there’s a lot of energy to get the fans off their feet.”

Lewes were Conference South Champions in the 2006/07 season, but the immediate departure of their manager Steve King and all-but-one of the first team squad left The Rooks up against it in the Conference National, and they were relegated after finishing bottom of the table the following year. The club was subsequently purchased for £1 by a group of six supporters who turned it into a community-owned initiative. In July 2017, Lewes became the first professional or semi-professional football club to pay its women’s team the same as its men’s team.

*Lewes won 8-7 on penalties

**AFC Stoneham won 5-4 on penalties

By Ben Rochey-Adams