Lewes end goal drought to secure deserved win

Booth pounced on 85 minutes to lob keeper Andy Young after late substitute Jean-Michel Sigere had caused havoc in the Bishop's Stortford penalty area.

Sigere had already proved to be an inspired substitution by manager Steve King when he nearly forced a goal with his first touch. Just a minute before Booth's vital strike, Sigere had forced a mistake from his marker and beat Young to a weak backpass '“ but his attempt to play Booth in infront of an open goal was denied by Young's desperate block.

But just 60 seconds later, Sigere's physical presence in the visitors' box saw the ball drop to Booth, who dinked the ball over a stranded Young to the delight of the 900-plus strong crowd.

The relief of the supporters and players was evident, as for so long it had looked like being one of those days again '“ following goalless games against Bognor and Maidenhead.

A relatively quiet first half saw, on five minutes, a good Lewes shout for handball turned down after a defender had handled Dale Binns' cross in the box.

Then, five minutes later, an Ian Simpemba header from a Simon Wormull free kick dropped teasingly away off Young's right-hand upright.

Lewes keeper Steve Williams' first real action came on 23 minutes when he did well to keep out a fierce Greg Pearson strike.

But an increasingly frustrated home side were finding it difficult to break down a quality Bishop's Stortford side, and began resorting to long ball tactics to get the ball forward.

However, whatever was said by King and assistant Justin Skinner obviously worked as Lewes came out a different, more energised outfit in the second half.

Striker Hamid Barr could have opened the scoring within seconds of the restart when he turned his marker but saw his shot blocked by Michael Stanbrook at close range.

Then, on 62 minutes, came a moment of genuine controversy that would have defined this match had Booth not pounced for that late winner. Booth, who had worked the inside right channel brilliantly throughout the second half, crossed from the right after a good run. The ball nearly fell to Gary Holloway at the near post but ran on to Binns, who seemed to have made no mistake at the far post. But the referee's assistant ruled the ball had not crossed the line '“ to the utter astonishment of the fans in the Philcox Stand behind the goal '“ and King in the Lewes dug-out.

Two minutes later, it really did look like being one of those days when a good run and cross from Binns from the left saw both Holloway and Andy Drury having powerful shots blocked on the line.

On 73 minutes, Young did well to pull off a reaction save to deny Simpemba a headed goal from a Wormull corner, then four minutes later Booth was just unable to get enough purchase on his shot to trouble the visiting keeper after good work from Binns and Holloway.

And, with local rivals Eastbourne Borough winning comfortbaly against Blue Square South strugglers St Albans City, it looked like King's men might be overtaken at the top of the table for the first time since the early days of the season.

But then came the arrival of Sigere and the goal that the Rooks so deserved '“ and needed.

Talking of the controversial decision to disallow Binns' effort, King said, "It was embarrasing. I've never seen anything like it. The ball was touching the back of the net! I though the linesman was going to spoil it for us today.

"But we were brilliant today and thoroughly deserved the victory. I'm quite emotional actually because it had been a hard couple of games for us before today and I though we weren't going to get the rub of the green again."

Talking of his game-turning decision to put Sigere on when he did, King revealed, "He was going to come on a little bit earlier but he said he felt faint and had a headache.

"So he was warming up and I asked him, 'Are you all right?' and he said, '...I'm all right', so I put him on

"He made the difference."

LEWES: Williams, Conroy, Barness, Wormull, Robinson, Simpemba, Drury, Holloway, Barr (Sigere 84), Booth (Davis 89), Binns.

ATT: 921. REF: Antony Coggins (Bicester).