Lewes 6, Horsham 1: Horsham boss John Maggs is in no doubt Lewes will win the Ryman League division one south title this season.

After all, he had just seen his side taken apart at the Dripping Pan last night.

A hat-trick by former Wimbledon trainee Ahmet Suleymanoglu and further strikes by Junior Kadi, Paul Kennett and Luke Fontana saw Lewes cap a marvellous display to stay top of the table.

Maggs, who had seen his Hornets win 5-0 against Molesey on Saturday, believes Lewes are the team to beat this season.

He said: "Without doubt we lost to the future league champions. I would put my money on them because they were rampant.

"Undoubtedly they are the strongest team we have played and I hold my hands up because we weren't on the same planet as them."

Lewes manager Steven King is not playing down his side's chances either.

He said: "The first half performance was different class and the sort of football we were playing was of a higher standard to be honest.

"We started showboating a bit in the second half, which I was a bit disappointed with but overall it was a brilliant performance."

Lewes took just six minutes to kill the game off and show their Sussex rivals why they have made an unbeaten start to the season.

Kadi fired in the first from the edge of the box on four minutes and two minutes later the impressive Dwain Clarke crossed for the unmarked Suleymanoglu to finish from close range.

Horsham began to get themselves back in the game after the frantic opening period but Lewes always looked capable of moving up a gear and were three-up just past the half hour mark.

Fontana beat Eddie French for pace on the right flank before drilling across goal and Kennett came in at the back post to tap into the empty net.

Three minutes later Suleymanoglu scored again with a neat finish after good work by Kennett and the former Hastings man sealed his hat-trick 13 minutes after the break when he ended a neat move with a powerful drive from 12 yards.

Fontana wrapped it up on 72 minutes with a close range header after a good cross from Kadi.

Gary Charman pulled one back for the sorry visitors with a well taken header 11 minutes from time but it was no consolation for Maggs.

He said: "That is what we have to compete with and we have a lot of work to do. We were absolutely awful and I felt a little bit embarrassed."

Lewes: Jean-Zepherin, Curnow, Chin, Kennett, Clarke, Cable (Graves 70), Adeniyi (Watts 65), Harris, Fontana, Kadi, Suleymanoglu (Newman 60). Unused subs: Whiteman, Davis.

Horsham: Chatfield, Hall, Berry, French, Kirby, Kirkwood (Westgate 46), Carney (Warrilow 71), Castrechino, Ullathorne, Jarvard (Davies 46), Charman. Unused sub: Di Martino.

Referee: M. Knight. Attendance: 410. Man-of-the-match: Dwain Clarke.