After conceding four goals on Tuesday night the fans arrived at North Road hoping not to see a repeat performance. Late summer returned after a brief absence and the sunshine brought out the local school children with their parents.

Regent lined up with Turner in goal; Smith-Walter, Ribchester, Thompson and Wales at the back; Gouldbourne, Durling, Bradford and Gilbert in the middle and Harry McDonald and Ken Feyi up front. Five were named on the bench but only Lewis Byrne-Hewitt, Jamie Bennett, Dean Ager and Max Booth were visible in the dug out.

Early on Regent sat back and allowed the visitors to knock the ball around their own half without putting them under any pressure. There was none of the pace, pressure and intensity that marked the opening matches of the season.

After a languid ten minutes the visitors suddenly upped the pace and long ball out of defence found a Lewes winger who took on Billy Wales, turned him elegantly and cut the ball back to where it was slammed into the net.

Minutes later they repeated the same trick to double their lead.

Lewes were unrecognisable from previous seasons and were comfortable for the rest of the first half and were only threatened by an awkward back pass from one of their own players which forced their goalkeeper to head the ball back and over the bar.

Regent escaped further punishment thanks to some timely saves by Charlie Turner and some lax finishing by the Lewes forwards. Regent made no impression on the Lewes defence.

Second half

Regent brought Max Booth on for Max Bradford after the interval. But Lewes started the second half much as they had finished the first and Turner was forced into a further series of athletic saves to keep the score at 2-0.

After ten minutes another long ball found the Lewes centre forward and simply had to tap the ball into an empty net.

Further substitutions made no difference and Regent were saved by the woodwork, some last ditch defensive blocks and above all by Charlie Turner’s efforts in goal.

Things got worse with ten minutes left as Chris Ribchester brought down Lewes’ Ollie Tanner in full flight and the referee went for a straight red card.

Further heroics by Turner denied the Lewes forwards until another break away down the right gave visitors an unmissable opportunity to make it 4-0 shortly before the match came to an end.

Match Verdict

The margin of Lewes’ win doesn’t do justice to their superiority on the day and it would have been a lot worse without Turner’s brilliance. Regent simply lacked all the qualities which they showed in previous games this season. Where do they go from here?

By Paul Ketchley