Lewes face three months in exile after their Southdown pitch was heavily damaged by last week's flooding.

The premier division club are expecting to completely relay their artificial pitch, which would leave Lewes without a base until after Christmas.

Repairs could cost as much as £200,000, but the club are in the dark as to the full extent of the damage. They hope any costs will be covered by insurance.

Manager Peter Boyse said: "We don't know whether the pitch will need to be re-laid yet, but early indications are not good. It was under five feet of water after the nearby stream burst its banks.

"If the pitch does face lengthy repairs, we're going to need to fix up some alternative venues to play our home games."

Already the club use artificial pitches at Falmer and will enquire about the availability of Stanley Deason.

Lewes run 12 teams and might be forced into playing some of their home matches away. Already the men's first XI have switched their league game against Indian Gymkhana to an away fixture this weekend.

It was not a good week for the club on the pitch either. They went down 4-2 at Chelmsford and are anchored to the foot of the table.

The visitors were 3-0 down at the break and it needed Boyse to push on his two sons, Jeremy and Alistair, to get the ball rolling in the second half.

Ben Hawkes converted a penalty flick to reduce the deficit, but Chelmsford struck a fourth to put the game beyond reach. Jeremy Boyse pulled one back from Hawkes' cross, but there was never any danger of Chelmsford caving in.

The Lewes manager said: "We played well in the second half and could have got something out of the game had we been more consistent throughout."

East Grinstead's young guns were shot down by a last minute goal from Doncaster.

The Sussex side looked as though they had earned a deserved 1-1 draw, but lost possession in midfield and Doncaster raced away to snatch a 2-1 victory.

Manager John Murphy said: "The lads put in 100 per cent effort and you can't fault them on that. Because it's a young side, we can be a bit naive at times and perhaps they need a few older heads in there to add experience."

Goalkeeper Andrew Spight was outstanding and it looked as though Doncaster would find no way through until forging ahead near the end of the first half.

East Grinstead fought back and Julian Mills intercepted an attempted clearance, strode in and levelled the scores before the break.

Jon Perriss and Richard Payne were brilliant in midfield, although Payne did get sent off for five minutes after a crunching challenge.

NEIL PENDLE struck twice as Chichester erased the bitter memory of a 7-1 defeat against Wimbledon with a 2-1 South League premier division win against Purley Walcountians.

Coach Andy Barnes said his team responded positively to a change in tactics and deserved their win.

He said: "After the Wimbledon drubbing, it was important to keep it tight at the back and we defended magnificently."

Pendle put Chi ahead, but Purley levelled soon after.

All the scoring was completed before half time when Pendle converted a penalty corner and after an end-to-end second half Chi took maximum points.

Martin Harris did a fine job in goal, coming in for Steve Jones, and now Barnes faces a difficult decision who to play in goal for this Saturday's match against Wokingham.