Match Report: Reds Ride their luck to leave Rooks Reeling
Uxbridge 2-1 Lewes | FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round
Saturday, September 26, 2026 | Attendance: 332
In the centre of Lewes sits the historic Harvey's Brewery, and any Lewes fan in attendance on Saturday may well have made a bee-line straight there after they got back to Sussex to drown their sorrows. They came away from Honeycroft with nothing to show for a fine performance as Uxbridge had to dig deep to secure a 2-1 victory in the FA Trophy. The Reds capitalised on their key moments to claim the win, aided by some rather erratic officiating. There were starts for Callum Duffy, Sam Deadfield, and Liam Prior-Tack as Danny Edwards shuffled his pack in the midst of a busy run of fixtures following the superb win at Farnborough in the FA Cup this week.
The match came to life as early as the 8th minute. A superb long ball over the top saw George Moore challenge the Lewes backline. With Moore making his presence felt, the referee played advantage as he was impeded, and the ball sat up invitingly for Francis Amartey to lash it home with the finish of a man in a rich vein of scoring form, giving the Reds an early advantage.
Lewes responded well, dominating possession and pinning Uxbridge into their own half for the remainder of the period. In the 26th minute, a fine passing move upfield saw Tyler Cox whip a cross into the middle, with a Tyrese Owen header being comfortably gathered by Sam Morris in the Uxbridge goal. Moments later, a poor clearance by the Reds backline caused a frantic scramble in the Uxbridge penalty area, but the hosts managed to block the incoming shots and the danger was ultimately cleared.
As the half drew to a close, pressure mounted from the visitors, with Cox and Ryan Gondoh causing Uxbridge plenty of problems. Another fine move worked the ball out to the edge of the box, but Andrew Briggs sent his effort over the bar. In the 38th minute, a powerful Lewes strike from Charlie Walker was superbly parried at close range by Morris, who quickly gathered the rebound from Jack Enkh. Just sixty seconds later, Lewes broke through again, only for Ciaran Martin to execute a superb, goal-saving block. A dangerous Lewes cross in the 42nd minute forced Callum Duffy to glance a header just wide of his own post, but Uxbridge survived the ensuing corner to head into the break ahead.
HT: 1-0
Lewes signalled their intent immediately from the second-half restart, firing an early warning shot just over the crossbar before Morris was called on again shortly after as Gondoh found space for a shot. Uxbridge threatened on the counter in the 51st minute when Amartey was released down the left, but his low drive was deflected behind with goalkeeper Louis Rogers stranded on the floor.
We then came to a bizarre passage of play that left many scratching their heads in the 53rd minute. Initially, a clever piece of interplay saw Ciaran Martin dink a cross to Sam Deadfield, whose goal bound header took a clear deflection—which was missed by the officials. Before Uxbridge could protest the decision not to award a corner, Lewes launched a counter-attack on the left wing. The assistant referee raised his flag to signal the ball had gone out; this was waved away by the referee, who believed it was for a foul. Play continued, and the assistant put his flag down just as Lewes put in a fine cross for Walker to head home. This sparked plenty of complaints from Uxbridge. As they headed back to the centre circle, the referee spoke to his assistant, and they concurred that the ball had indeed left the field. The goal was disallowed, sparking robust debate from both teams and the officials, but 1-0 it stayed.
Once the dust settled, Uxbridge struck a crucial second blow in the 69th minute. Ciaran Martin threaded a neat pass to Francis Amartey, who showed good composure to pull an intelligent ball back into the path of the onrushing Sam Deadfield. The midfielder made no mistake, calmly placing it into the net to make it 2-0.
Lewes refused to back down, and on 75 minutes Morris was called into action yet again in the Reds goal, making a superb save at full stretch from Mackenzie Richardson as he found plenty of space in the box. The Rooks got a well-deserved lifeline three minutes later when a sharp pass inside from Gondoh found Noel Fisher inside the area; he turned his marker excellently and fired a low shot into the bottom corner to reduce the deficit to 2-1.
The final ten minutes were a tense affair. Substitute Jack Burchell was forced into a vital, sliding interception in the 83rd minute to cut out a dangerous Lewes break. There was a welcome return to action for Joe Lawal late on, and in the final minute of normal time, he nearly made a perfect impact, outmuscling his defender on the flank to flash a low cross across the face of goal, just eluding Francis Amartey at the far post.
Uxbridge held firm through stoppage time to see out the 2-1 win and get in the hat for the next round. It is the mark of a good team to not play well and win, and so it proved on Saturday. Next up, Basingstoke are the visitors on Tuesday evening as we return to league action.
FT: 2-1
Uxbridge: Morris, Brown (Nnadozie), Martin, Duffy (Burchell), Massey, Deadfield (Lawal), Perez-Duah, Le Paih (Allsopp), Amartey, Moore (Robinson), Prior-Tack
