Lewes’ debut season in the Blue Square Premier has been, in the main, a major disappointment, with many low points and a couple of decent runs being ended by home defeats to sides around them.

However, there have also been four victories and, as Lewes fans have found, these victories taste all the sweeter when they have been so hard to come by.

The season started with a wave of optimism after several promising results in pre-season, including a draw at home to a full strength Brighton & Hove Albion side. This optimism carried into the first league game of the season as Lewes left Kidderminster Harriers with a creditable point.

From this point, though, the season started to go down hill and after successive heavy home defeats to Crawley and Salisbury, the initial optimism began to disappear. Up until their first win of the season, Lewes only collected another three points after draws against Ebbsfleet at the Dripping Pan and at Woking and Histon.

The Rooks first win of the season could not have come against more illustrious opposition in the shape of Oxford United. However, for much of the game, it looked as though it would be the same old story for Lewes; not disgracing themselves, but not doing enough to take anything from the game.

This view was enhanced when Oxford took the lead with just under 20 minutes left. Despite this, and unlike games earlier in the season, Lewes kept going and got their reward thanks to late goals from Michael Standing and Sam Gargan.

This was an important win for Lewes, and in particular manager Kevin Keehan. Pressure had been building on the inexperienced manager and this only intensified after an embarassing 4-0 defeat in front of the Setanta cameras at home to Rushden. Keehan came under heavy criticism in this game and many fans thought that, at this point, he would resign. However, he kept going, and got his just rewards.

This sent Lewes on a good run and brought back the early season optimism, as a point at Grays Athletic, an undeserved defeat at Cambridge United and a home win against Forest Green Rovers helped put a smile back on the faces of the Lewes fans.

From this point, though, Lewes’ fortunes began to go downhill as they lost at home to Bognor in the Setanta Shield and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Leiston, who play in the equivalent of the County League.

This was Lewes’ most embarassing defeat of the season and most fans believed that Keehan was to blame. The Lewes boss came in for heavy criticism and fans wrongly presumed he was going to leave when, the morning after the Leiston game, an emergency board meeting was held.

Desperate action was required and Keehan used his contacts to bring in several loan signings, including Joe Tabiri from Barnet and Adam Hinshelwood from Albion.

This galvanised the Rooks and they soon rediscovered their winning form, as they beat Grays Athletic at the Dripping Pan thanks to goals from Scott Taylor and Michael Standing.

Despite the presence of the loan signings, one player broke into the first team at this point and has lit up many games since, in the shape of David Wheeler. The youngster was awarded man of the match against Grays and hasn’t looked back since with several excellent performances earning rave reviews from Keehan and Lewes fans alike. This victory seemed to inject some confidence back into Lewes and after scraping past Selsey in the Sussex Senior Cup and being narrowly beaten by Stevenage, they won two tough games in the space of four days, with victories at Salisbury City in the league and Team Bath in the FA Trophy.

That FA Trophy game was played on the 13th December and Lewes haven’t won a single game in all competitions since. The Rooks also went nine games without scoring before Joe Keehan gave them the lead at Oxford. The teams Lewes played in this run of blanks were: Woking, Eastbourne Borough (twice), Stevenage, York City, Mansfield Town and Torquay United.

However, in recent games, there have been many positives to take out of the performances including the displays of Sam Fisk, who has made the step up from Hassocks in the County League, the performances of the loan signings, in particular Kieron St Aimie, and the performances of Joe Keehan.

Despite these positives, the two defeats to Eastbourne Borough in particular hurt, as it is the first time they have ever done the double over Lewes since they started playing each other over Christmas and New Year five years ago.

This season hasn’t been very easy for Lewes off the field as well on it.

It seemed as though money was an issue as soon as Steve King was relieved of his duties as manager at the end of last season but nobody could have predicted the financial problems that have occurred.

New investors are needed as the current board of directors cannot keep putting money into the club. Mark Henderson, chief executive of shirt sponsor’s Magicman, came up with an idea whereby 100 businesses or individuals each put forward £5,000, to try to raise £500,000. This idea wasn’t successful and, in the end, the board made one last plea for 30 businesses or individuals to come forward and raise £150,000, which, in turn, would keep the club running until the end of the season. There is a meeting this week to discuss the financial situation at the club, and it seems as though the result of it could be positive.

Despite the poor performances and results by the first team there are many positives to take from other areas of the club, specifically the under-18s.

The youth team, who are managed by Steve Ibbotson and Jason Hopkinson, have been in superb form all season, serving up many fantastic performances for the fans that have watched them.

They have also produced what many fans believe to be the highlight of the season after getting to the FA Youth Cup 3rd round proper.

This run culminated in a fantastic night at the Dripping Pan where they took on Premier League Hull City in front of 529 paying spectators and, in total, probably nearer 800 fans. They were not phased by the challenge, though, and were very unlucky to lose the game.

They are also third in the league, sitting two points behind leaders Croydon Athletic with two games in hand. Furthermore, the under-18s have also made it into the County Cup final after beating Horsham in the semi-final with twelve players unavailable due to injuries, first team commitments and call-ups to the England Schools squad.

Six youth team players have been used in the first team this season, as well, with Grant Hall, Matt Whitehead, Ryan Timms, David Wheeler, Fred Foreman and Tim Rivers all featuring at some point. Jake Buss has been an unused substitute at times this season due too a lack of cover for first team goal-keeper Rikki Banks. None of these players have let themselves down, and some of them, such as David Wheeler and Fred Foreman have both scored for the first team and started games along with Tim Rivers.

There have been several embarassing moments this season, mainly due to cup exits to lower league sides. However, I think the most embarassing moment of the season is the FA Cup exit to Leiston at the Dripping Pan. Lewes fans have grown used to disappointment this season but none of them were expecting a 3-1 home defeat by a side in the equivalent of the County League. To make the defeat even worse, Leiston had two of their best players, Tesfaye Bramble and Danny Cunningham unavailable. An FA Cup run could have helped to raise the spirits of the Lewes fans but this defeat showed that their side, who had beaten the likes of Oxford United earlier in the season, really could lose too anybody.

In terms of best player of the season so far, in my opinion there have been two main contenders, Danny Cullip and David Wheeler.

Cullip’s experience has been invaluable for the Rooks this season, as they have really missed him when he has been unavailable through injury and suspension and, when he has played, he has looked a class above anyone in the Lewes team and, the majority of the time, above anyone on the pitch.

Wheeler’s performances have been a lot more suprising, though, as, at the start of the season, he wasn’t even in the first team squad and only made a few substitute appearances at the end of last season or in the Sussex Senior Cup. However, since breaking into the first team at the start of November, he has been irreplacable due too his fantastic performances on the right wing and the commitment he shows in every performance. He has become a fans favourite and has only missed games due to college or commitments with the England Schools squad. One thing’s for certain, he has got a bright future ahead of him.

There are a few contenders for worst player of the season. For me, though, it has got to go to Seb Wallis-Tayler. During pre-season he turned in a number of impressive performances against lower league opposition. However, the league season has been a different story as he appears to struggle with the physical demands of playing in the Blue Square premier and also seems to lack the pace required to gain an advantage against speedy wingers or full-backs. Furthermore, in the FA Trophy tie at home to Havant & Waterlooville, his error allowed former Lewes striker Paul Booth to nip in and score just as it was looking like Lewes would scrape through.

In summary, this season has been a difficult one for all Lewes fans. However, the hope is that Lewes can keep fighting until the end of the season, as, although Lewes currently sit 13 points from safety and look like going down, it would be much better for the team to go down with a fight and to get a few more good results before the season is out to give the fans something to cheer about.