Lewes (0) A
Tonbridge Angels (0) A
Attendance: TBC
Admission: £6 Senior
E-Programme: Free download
Mileage: 82/5,356
On whatever planet the referee saw this game reaching its conclusion it wasn’t the same one that I’m inhabiting.
From a first viewing at 18:30, after take note of a tweet saying the pitch had passed its inspection at around 18:20, it was obvious that with rain falling and forecast to fall even harder in the coming couple of hours that any start was going to be futile.
By the time the teams took to the pitch at 19:40, conditions had considerably worsened with a swathe of water through the central areas of the pitch. But the referee had made his decision and he was going through with it come hell or high water, of which the latter was obviously the more appropriate!
What ensued for nearly 40 minutes was farcical, but with some decent football that defied the elements.
The water made its first impression after six minutes when a good move between Tom Beere and Chinedu McKenzie ended with the ball getting stuck in an ever-widening puddle.
Three minutes later, Lewes’ ex-Angels goalkeeper Lewis Carey made a good save turning over a shot from Joe Turner and he followed up this with a save at his near post to deny Alex Read.
Lewes were not without their chances and Jonny Henly was employed to save from Kieron Pamment and the puddles showed equality when the ball was held up to hamper Luke Blewden’s effort.
After 31 minutes, ex-Angels’ favourite Blewden thought he had given his side the lead when he handled the ball into the net, but only received a yellow card for his trouble.
As the conditions became totally ridiculous, the referee’s attention was finally called to the sidelines from where he consulted with both benches but seemingly was asking that the match continue to the break, five minutes away. But after speaking with the captain’s and finally with his linesman, he signalled, thankfully, that the game had been abandoned.
I asked an FA official whether the decision had been the right one and when I adjusted the question to the only one he concurred. But, the highlight (for me) of the evening was Jonny Henly coming face-to-face with his chairman and with a broad smile asking whether there would be a clean sheet bonus!
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