It was totes emosh (have I got the spelling right, Youth Wing?) at The Pan, as Chairman Stu ended his 12-year reign on the board in typical Fuller style: here, there and everywhere.
He led the teams out, gave a speech at half-time, led the celebrations at full-time, wrote the match report and then bought a round of drinks in the bar afterwards. That is how you Chairman.
I can’t remember who wrote it this week, but the punters don’t even see half of what goes on when you’re on the board. I lost count of the amount of times when we were on the board together that I’d rung Stu about something or other, only to find he was (inevitably) travelling for work and I’d just woken him up at 3am in Bangkok or some such.
The good thing about those bleary-eyed phone calls is that you could get absolutely anything past him at those ungodly, jetlagged hours.
“Darren wants to take the lads for a fortnight in Tenerife and the Supporters Club has asked if you’ll do the Brighton Naked Bike Ride to raise funds for a new fridge?”
Yep, no problem Baz. Was there anything else?”
I’m not going to blow further smoke up his arse, because we all know he’s got a monstrous ego and I don’t want to see these words on his LinkedIn profile. Suffice to say, he’s done an enormous amount of voluntary toil for this club, he’s a smashing bloke and can I have your car park space?
If there’s one thing our outgoing chairman would ask for, it would be a performance like this one to send him off. Aside from a variety pack of Ginsters, Tony must have a lump of Enfield Kryptonite in his cool box, because every time we play them we seem to smash four past them.
In truth, it could easily have been more this time. Chairman Stu named Enfield keeper Rhys Foster as man-of-the-match in his Non-League Paper report and it wasn’t the worst decision of his tenure. The keeper made at least three brilliant saves to keep the score respectable, not least when he kept out a stunning move from Sablier and Ogunwamide midway through the first half.
We took the lead in strange fashion. A deep corner found Arthur Penney at the far post. Tommy Wood swung and missed at the dropping ball and it trickled into the net to put us in front on 16 minutes.
Enfield put up a brief flicker of resistance after the opener. The closest they came to equalising was when a shot across the face of goal was hoiked off the line by the newly shorn Archie Tamplin – the youngest member of the squad and yet, oddly, the one leading a 1980s revival of tight shorts. Let’s just say if each pair of shorts cost £10, Archie’s got a fiver up his backside each game. Too much detail? I’ll move on.
The second goal, not far short of the hour, was a delight. Deon Moore is in the Rooks form of his life and so it was no surprise when he swept home the decisive second, a neat side-foot finish from the edge of the box.
The third was an own goal. Tommy Wood bundled his way into the box, put a ball across the face for an Ola Ogunwamide tap-in, but defender James Richmond beat him to the punch.
The final flourish was added by Wood himself, with the goal of the game. He spun on the edge of the box and arrowed a curling shot into the inside side-netting for a fabulous fourth. After last week’s decent effort against Aldershot, it’s great to see Wood’s undoubted endeavour being rewarded with goals, goals, goals.
And so the chairman got his fairytale ending. Now about that car park space…
Lewes: Harvey, Elliott, Hughes, Tamplin, Vint, Penney, Wood, Ogunwamide, Moore, Sablier, Pritchard
Subs: Egan, Murtagh, Whelpdale, Dalling, Salmon
Supporters Club man of the match: A very tough call with several exceptional performances, but we’re going for Deon Moore, who was a classy menace all afternoon
Video highlights from Your Instant Replay:
Boyesy’s brilliant photos:
