Steven King had no complaints with the result after his Lewes side were knocked off top spot in Conference south by ten-man Cambridge City.

The Rooks boss unveiled his new strike pairing in Jean-Michel Sigere and Jefferson Louis, the former Oxford and Bristol Rovers striker who joined the club late last week.

But it was a frustrating day for King and his side as they were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw against a Cambridge team who had goalkeeper Danny Naisbitt sent off in the 13th minute for foul and abusive language.

It looked like the Rooks might go on to claim victory when Sigere's powerful header put them ahead early in the second half but Cambridge levelled 12 minutes later and could have gone on to win it.

An upset King said: "That's definitely two points dropped. It is hard to play against ten men but their tenth man was a leftback playing in goal.

"We didn't test him enough. No one can fault the number of crosses we put into the box but in the second half we didn't have the desire to get across their defenders in the penalty area which we needed to do.

"The truth is we didn't deserve to win the game."

King's was an honest assessment of a performance that left another healthy Dripping Pan crowd disappointed.

The Rooks were unbeaten in six league games going into this contest but they did not show enough of the disciplined and free flowing football which had seen them consolidate top spot in midweek with a thumping 5-1 win away to early season leaders Sutton.

Louis, a big, powerful front man who gave Lewes plenty of presence in attack alongside Sigere, failed to shine, although we should not forget he has not played first team football since September.

At the back Lewes defenders were far too often pulled out of position and made a series of individual errors which made it too easy for the visitors to claim their point.

King's reputation in management grows all the time but he will have to call on all his nous to sort out why Lewes concede so many goals.

Recent performances have suggested they are getting it right but second-placed Lewes have still conceded more goals than any other side in the top half of the table.

Cambridge's opener on seven minutes highlighted the problem. Players were caught out of position as Cambridge made headway down the left channel and when Robbie Simpson delivered a perfectly weighted cross Craig Dobson had all the time he wanted to fire into the far corner.

It was a sweet goal for Dobson, who was shown the door at Lewes in the summer, but the second ex-Rook in Cambridge's ranks played a less impressive role on 13 minutes after Amos Foyewa turned in Steve Robinson's prodded shot to put Lewes level.

Naisbitt, claiming he had been impeded, berated a linesman and was shown a straight red card by referee Tony Mason.

Without a reserve goalkeeper on the bench, fullback Lee Chaffey went in goal but anyone arriving at that point would not have realised it was not his normal position.

Chaffey, who admitted afterwards he played in goal as a youngster and also took the jersey in a game against Grays last season, held everything Lewes threw at him which, to be truthful, was not much.

Chaffey stood no chance with Sigere's header from an Owen Price cross which thumped in off the underside of the crossbar to make it 2-1 on 54 minutes.

But the warning signs had been there for Lewes long before Dobson's second of the game on 66 minutes made it 2-2.

In the closing stages, the visitors forced three corners which emphasised the adventure they showed despite their numerical disadvantage.

Some people left saying Cambridge were Lewes' bogey side, others suggested the visitors are genuine title contenders.

The latter is more likely and Cambridge manager Gary Roberts agreed.

He said: "We are one of the better teams in this league. Weymouth, Havant and Lewes have all been lucky to take points off us in the last three weeks, drawing all three games when I thought we should have taken maximum points.

"We are a resilient side, we have a good team unit and some talented players."