Well, that was a slow burner. In fact, I’ve seen asbestos candles catch fire more quickly than that. But when it got going, it was fun to watch.

What kept that game simmering on Gas Mark 3 for so long? Perhaps it was stage fright, with a huge crowd of 1,975 at The Dripping Pan, by far and away the biggest home crowd of the season. Credit to the car-key janglers, who probably brought between a third and a half of that crowd with them and made it a super-busy afternoon at The Pan.

Thanks too to the many home and away fans who shoved money into our collection boxes for The Brain Tumour Charity, in memory of Dave Evans. We don’t know how much we’ve raised yet – Treasurer Al is still greasing his abacus – but it will definitely be a tidy sum. You are splendid people, you really are.

Back to the game and, well, not much happened in the first half. Neither side created a chance to scare the chickens. Whitehawk probably edged it in terms of pressure, the long balls forward to Rob O’Toole giving Arthur Penney and Jake Elliott plenty to do, but neither side deserved to be ahead at the break. The closest we came was a bundle from a corner at the back post; the closest they came was when Nathan Harvey had a brain fart and almost handed them a golden chance by dallying on the edge of his box. He rescued it in the nick of time.

Nathan more than redeemed himself later, with two tremendous saves, but not before Whitehawk took the lead early in the second half. A ball bobbled up in the air, and although Brad Pritchard has many strengths, his aerial prowess isn’t one of them. He was beaten to the ball which fell into the path of Charlie Walker who lashed it home on the half-volley.

Even that didn’t really stir The Rooks. We still struggled to make headway in the Whitehawk half, and if Nathan hadn’t made a stunning double save from Walker and then (I think) Daly, the Rooks would almost certainly have been heading for their second defeat of the Easter break, after Friday turned out to be not that Good at all at Folkestone.

What changed the game was something we haven’t seen all that often from Tony Russell – a change of shape. Lumbombo-Kalala, Tamplin and Figueira came on in dribs and drabs, and Tony switched to a back three. Ming went to the left side of the defence, with Penney in the middle and Elliott on the right, while Oguntayo and Olukoga operated as wing backs. Crucially, Lumbombo-Kalala went down the middle, playing off Whelpdale, and that started carving out decent chances at last.

The equaliser came courtesy of KLK. His low shot went through a crowd and into the bottom corner. I thought it went straight in from my perch in the commentary box, Rookmeister thought it was an own goal, and the club have credited it to Marcus Sablier. Whoever got the final touch, it was KLK and his magic boots who deserved the credit.

Whitehawk were now on the ropes, and one alarming counter-attack aside, it suddenly looked like only we were going to carve out a winner. And we almost did. Right at the death, a whipped ball into the box landed on Whelpdale’s head, but he could only guide it on to the post.

One point from six over Easter has put pay to any resurrection of our play-off hopes, meaning there’s only really Europe left to play for. Not a sentence I ever thought I’d be writing in a Lewes match report, if I’m honest.

Lewes: Harvey, Ming, Elliott, Penney, Oguntayo, Olukoga, Sablier, Pritchard, Gondoh, Ogunwamide, Whelpdale

Subs: Tamplin, Figueira, Vint, Briscoe, Lumbombo-Kalala

Supporters Club man of the match: KLK made things happen when he was switched to the centre, but Nathan Harvey nudges it for the double save that kept us in the game in the first place