Aldershot & Farnham (A&F) head coach Ian Jennings was pleased to see his side return to winning ways with a 3-0 victory at Lewes in the South East Men’s Premier Division.

The Shots bounced back from back-to-back defeats with an impressive away win.

“The pre-match talk consisted of a lot of soul searching – not just relevant to the games, but training as well,” said Jennings.

“It became clear we all wanted to get as much as we could from the season rather than just drift along for the ride, particularly when there are people in the group who are making a huge effort to travel and play. As a result, this result was worth far more than just the three points.”

Jennings was happy with a number of aspects of his team’s performance.

“I was pleased with the way we went about our task,” he said. “The control, the play, the rotations and playing through the lines was especially pleasing.

“I’m always going to feel we can do better, however, so if I’m going to be critical – even if it can sometimes be uncomfortable – I would still be disappointed with our final pass and the decision making that goes hand in hand with that.

“Too many times we are carving teams up and as a result of not taking our chances we allow the opposition to stay in the game and in the short- and long-term it’s going to cost us points – so we still need to be more clinical in that department.”

A&F travelled to face a Lewes side who are struggling at the bottom of the table.

Lewes, perhaps aware of the mismatch in quality, decided to sit off in a half-court press and defend from the halfway line.

A&F were more than happy to keep the ball against this defensive set-up and carve their way through Lewes’ low block.

The parallels to the previous week against Blackheath weren’t going unnoticed, however. Possession and control were high for A&F, but they couldn’t make the final ball stick after a number of good D entries along the baseline, and the goal eluded them again.

The script from the previous week wasn’t to play out again, however, as A&F finally got a final ball to stick.

They couldn’t have drawn up the first goal better if they tried. The back three maintained possession and spread the Lewes press. The ball went from right to left and Lewes couldn’t get over quickly enough, which allowed Chris Boot to find acres of space on the left sideline. His first-time pass found Scott Perry, who weaved into the D and picked out Phil Rushmere in a pocket of space, who made no mistake and opened the scoring.

Lewes remained in their low block, attempting to hit A&F on the counter with long aerials for their forwards to chase. A&F were dealing with them well, however, and snuffing out any quick breaks.

The tactic would have been fruitless were it not for an umpiring decision to award a penalty corner for an aerial thrown into traffic inside the A&F D. But the defence stood firm. Hamish Hall made the save and Boot was alert to sweep the rebound clear.

Avoidable cards were also preventing the home side from making inroads.

Engaging without retreating five and a cynical shove left Lewes with ten men for much of the next period. A&F pressed on and were winning penalty corners frequently.

Perry and Jamie Weston were struggling to break through the Lewes rearguard as opportunities went past the post or were cleared off the line. Jonny Groves then drew another card and penalty corner as a defender encroached as Groves was set to take an aerial. Perry found his mark with a flick to double the A&F lead, which was maintained until the break.

Coming out for the second half, A&F knew the next goal was important to remove any hope of a Lewes comeback.

The momentum was firmly with the away side as the chances came and went, and Lewes were unable to make their aerial bombardment effective.

The hosts had to push forward to try to claw their way back in, but the extra space only led to A&F creating more. The goal was surely inevitable.

But it wasn’t until A&F got a stroke of fortune as a Lewes forward was questionably carded that the third goal came. Against the ten men, A&F worked another move down the left, releasing Perry into the D. His shot was well saved by the keeper, but Patrick Craddon was on hand to tidy up the rebound and double his personal tally for the season and put A&F 3-0 up.

The frustrations were clear for the home side and their discipline let them down for a final time as another forward was sin-binned for a nasty tackle on Weston as he drove through a gap in the scrambling opposition.

But A&F finished the game as they started. They were unable to add the finishing touches to the good chances that followed the card and the game ended 3-0 to A&F.

Jennings feels his team are still well placed to push at the top of the league this season.

“Compared to last season we are still three points up,” said Jennings. “So that’s encouraging and we still have the teams at the top to play, so we can claw back the deficit quite quickly. I don’t think there will be one runaway team this season, and judging by the results so far, teams are generally taking points from unexpected sources.

“We will hope that continues and we can keep just under the radar until Christmas, then plan our assault.”

A&F have three wins and two losses from their opening five games, leaving them in fourth place with nine points and in touch with the early-season pace setters.

A&F will host Holcombe’s second team on Saturday (November 4).

Kevin McCafferty