A bad weekend for Sussex hockey saw Lewes and East Grinstead suffer National League defeats on Saturday before both crashed out of the HA Cup on Sunday.

Lewes lost 5-4 at Firebrands in division one on Saturday, having led 4-3 with two minutes remaining.

The home side went ahead against the run of play through David Hacker but Lewes levelled four minutes later through Stuart McConachie's first goal for the club from a short corner.

Lewes finished the half the stronger but then conceded two goals from short corners in the first five minutes of the second half, with Simon Lanyon and Hacker scoring.

The comeback started with Will Champness scoring from a flick.

Simon Owen levelled matters on 47 minutes following a short corner, although Firebrands missed penalty flicks either side of that goal.

Lewes, who were without injuried pair Ian Hutchinson and Danny Poulsen, went ahead on 56 minutes when McConachie made a good run, then crossed to Luke Hurle at the top of the cirle and he cracked a shot into the top corner.

It looked like Lewes would hold on but Mark Pullin scrambled in a short corner two minutes from time and then Lanyon bagged a winner a minute later following a defensive blunder.

Lewes manager Peter Boyse said: "It was a good, fast, hard game of hockey and an excellent one for the spectators. But it was a disappointing result as we should have come away with the points."

It was a much better display on Sunday as Lewes lost 4-3 at home to Premier Division high-fliers Surbiton in the third round of the HA Cup.

An even first half saw McConachie's second goal of the weekend make it 1-1 at the break. Surbiton, missing their international players, took a 2-1 lead early in the second half but Lewes responded with goals from Steve Edmonds, on his 18th burthday, and Tim Garner, with a crisp reverse hit past the keeper.

Lewes then conceded a couple of short corners, the second of which produced an equaliser, and halfway through the second half Surbiton snatched a winner.

South African Mark Wilkinson made a number of fine saves on his debut in goal and will now be pushing regular keeper Andy Speight for his place.

Boyse said: "It was a very good performance. The team played really well."

East Grinstead's weekend was a case of wasted opportunities. On Saturday they were looking to build on their good start to the season in division two but were punished for errors as Peterborough Town won 3-0 with well taken goals on the break.

Peterborough only had two short corners and three shots in the whole match but this was enough for them to score three goals. Grinstead, on the other hand had five open play shots, seven short corners and a stroke and failed to score.

It was a similar story on Sunday as Grinstead lost 3-1 in the cup to Old Georgians, who had knocked them out of the cup last year.

With five changes to the side, Grinstead failed to find their rhythm and it was no surprise when Georgians took the lead with an powerful shot.

The second goal was deflected past wrong-footed keeper Richard Harms and the third was also fortunate as a deflected shot came back off a post for a simple finish.

Trailing 3-0 at the break, Grinstead rallied in the second half but only had Richard Payne's goal to show for their efforts.

Coach Ian Pattison said: "We are obviously frustrated at not winning but to be honest as long as we are able to create more chances than the opposition, which we did in both games, we shouldn't be too disheartened."

Southwick moved into the first round of the Sussex Cup after a 3-0 win against Newhaven in the preliminary round.