Ten man Lancing fall to Newhaven despite Juwara's wonder strike
Mo Juwara scored the Lancers goal in what proved to be only a consolation.
Ian Robinson opened the scoring for the Dockers on ten minutes from the penalty spot.
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Hide AdJuwara equalised for the Lancers on 31 minutes with an absolute thunderbolt into the top corner from 25 yards.
Newhaven retook the lead on 41 minutes through Seb Saunders.
Newhaven made it 3-1 two minutes after the half-time break when Lee Robinson beat Mitch Bromage to the ball following an attempted cross to tap home.
Things went from bad to worse for the Lancers as Juwara was sent off in added time.
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Hide AdAfter the match Rouane believed that the match was always going to be a test for his side.
He added: "To be brutally honest it’s a game I’m not overly disappointed with and one that I’m glad is out the way.
"The pitch in my honest opinion was the worst we have played on this season by quite a distance, to try and stand up on that pitch was a challenge never mind trying to play football on it and with the makeup of our team it was always going to be an uphill challenge when we gifted them three goals with the help of an official who I thought was extremely poor on the day but for me that’s nothing out of the ordinary.
"Newhaven are far more equipped to deal with those surfaces as they take that element out of their game."
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Hide Ad"Every team is going to raise their levels when you’re sat top of the league you’re a big scalp especially with the way we play and the plaudits we’ve received thus far, it’s something we’re going to have to get used to and adapt to that."
The Lancers boss also admitted that defensive errors cost his side.
He added: "Defensively we made far too many errors and made an already difficult fixture harder by gifting poor goals.
"I’ve let the boys know this and they accepted they were poor errors.
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Hide Ad"Once they got the third it was difficult for us to build any rhythm in the game and up the tempo with our passing and movement, the pitch was just not conducive to this and they banked up deep and made it difficult to penetrate."
Rouane was also quick to praise his players for the chances they manufactured.
He added: "I thought there were two real bits of quality in the game one of those was Mo Juwara’s strike and James Rhodes early chance which we manufactured through good build up.
"Mo was solid throughout and deserved his goal, I’m happy for him.
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Hide AdThe Lancers visit Horley Town on Tuesday and Rouane is expecting a test.
He added: "Horley again will be a tough fixture, hopefully the pitch is in good condition and we can see a good football match.
"They’re on a great run of form at the moment, we will have to be at our best to get something from the game."
Lancing: Bromage, Fenton. Juwara, Williamson, Blencowe, Hendy, Santos (Woolven 46), Honore (Fair 46), Rhodes, Connolly (Hewens 70), Finney
Unused: Coupar, Berry