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| Tuesday, 16 September, 2003: FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round Replay. Lewes 2-1 Tonbridge Angels The Angels’ long unbeaten run finally came to an end with defeat in the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round. There can be no doubt that their opponents Lewes were among the toughest sides in the draw and the two teams produced a cracking cup tie and 180 minutes of entertaining football. Unfortunately the replay saw Tonbridge bow out of the competition at a somewhat premature stage for the third season running. The Tonbridge barmy army were in full voice and cheered on the visitors as Lewes sat back and allowed the Angels to attack from the start. The best chance of the early attacks saw Peter Overton cut in behind his man and his shot was deflected over. Lewes were able to use their strength in counter-attacking and on 30 minutes forced a corner from which they took the lead. The corner was swung out very deep past the far post, volleyed back into the middle of the penalty box and headed home by Lee Newman. Eight minutes later the tie was back in stalemate as Barr’s free-kick was headed into the box by Barnes, the home defence failed to get rid of the ball and Andy Larkin was on hand to drill a shot underneath the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Jean-Zepherin. The second half saw the brilliant cup atmosphere continue with some real end-to-end attacking football. Nick Barnes and Sam Tydeman in particular creating a lot of the Angels’ threats from midfield with Barnes’ pace especially causing most of the damage. The pace continued to increase and it looked like Tonbridge would be the first to crack when a penalty was given away on 66 minutes. Jamie Turner became the hero as he comfortably palmed away Newman’s spot kick. If you thought we’d been fortunate to earn the penalty in the home side, you’d have been amazed by the incident on 70 minutes - some good passing football by Tonbridge resulted in Sam Tydeman turning a defender in the area, slipping before regaining his composure to line up a shot on goal... the referee was one of the very few people to think contact had been made and promptly pointed to the spot. Hamid Barr never misses a penalty - or does he? Jean-Zepherin guessed correctly by diving to his left and saving the kick. There was still time for both sides to hit the woodwork... a Tony Dolby free-kick hitting the bar... until on 84 minutes Newman got his second to put Lewes back in front. This time there was to be no comeback, despite several minutes of injury time during which Ray Powell, Brendon Cass and Nick Barnes all missed golden opportunities to grab another equaliser. Report by: Dan Couldridge |
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