Super sub Howell hits brace in Lancers’ cup success

ALEX Howell came off the bench to net a brace and send Lancing Football Club into the third round of the John O’Hara Cup on Tuesday night.
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Lancing v Crowborough Football action from the gameW35678H13

Lancing v Crowborough Football action from the game
W35678H13 Lancing v Crowborough Football action from the game

Howell came on around the hour mark with Lancers trailing 1-0 to Lewis Hole’s first-half strike after a deflection gifted him a simple finish.

He had pulled the visitors level within eight minutes with a neat turn before slotting low into the corner of the net.

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The second and winner came with just seven minutes remaining as Howell latched on to a Dave Sharman header with a poacher’s finish.

Lancing survived a late penalty shout from the hosts, and assistant manager Tom Gurney felt that was the right decision for a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge in the box.

Lancing handed debuts to goalkeeper Elliott Flack, left-back Matt Hardman and versatile Alex Gathern all of who impressed, having signed recently from Horsham YMCA, Worthing and Steyning respectively.

Gurney said: “The main thing for us is we showed a lot of character after the last couple of games when we conceded a lot of goals.

“After conceding, our heads could have gone down, but the work-rate was great and we played some really good football. It was excellent and that is how we want to play.”