LEWES will continue their search for a goalscorer after being forced to settle for an FA Trophy replay.

The Rooks will try again against Hampton and Richmond at the Dripping Pan on Wednesday, knowing they had enough chances to settle this tie at the first attempt.

Steve Ibbitson’s men played as well as they have done all season but their lack of punch in front of goal continues to be their downfall.

The club’s financial predicament means Ibbitson cannot go out and sign the striker his team needs.

In the last two games the Rooks boss has tried five different teenagers in attack and, while they all have potential, they lack reliability an experienced striker brings.

Ibbitson has been trying to juggle the money available to him to bring someone in but with the club still paying off debts and no sign of a big benefactor coming in it is not easy.

He said: “You look at Saturday's game and see how well we played but we just haven’t got that threat in the box.

“We are looking at strikers and seeing if there is anybody we can get hold of but the established ones we are talking to are talking telephone numbers, certainly out of our league.

“The one thing we can’t do is to cause the club more financial problems. We have got to work within the budget we have got.

“There are other avenues and we are looking at a couple of good young players who might be able to come along and do a job. They are a bit cheaper, perhaps loan players or scholars.

“We need that punch. The other thing we are looking at is the squad and at some stage we may have to say we go short in a couple of areas to try to get a striker in if we have got to pay a little bit more money.

“We are looking at every option we can to try to do something.”

The need for a goalscorer is growing by the week. If a team continues to play well and not win, then confidence will wane and with Lewes still in the bottom three in Blue Square south that cannot be allowed to happen.

There is also the matter £5,000 that remains up for grabs for the winners of this first round tie and while that money would not be available to Ibbitson for players it would certainly help the club.

Ibbitson tried winger Dan Royce up front with Fred Foreman on Saturday, dropping Tim Rivers and Kane Louis to the bench, while another youngster, Louis Pople, came on to show what he could do for the final 20 minutes.

The Lewes boss said: “Tim looked a bit jaded last week and hasn't been well during the week so we felt he needed a rest and I thought Fred did well. He is not a natural front player but holds the ball up well. He has a lovely touch and brings people into the game.

“We experimented with Roycie because we know if we can get him anywhere around the box he hits a good shot with either foot and that worked to an extent.

“We felt we were a bit ineffective up front last week. We needed to make a change and I felt we looked better without really having that goal threat.”

The home side probably edged the first half and certainly had the best chance of the opening 45 minutes but Rikki Banks’ superb reactions denied Ian Hodges from close range.

Banks also made another excellent stop to deny substitute Michael Charles in the second half while also standing tall to thwart Craig Dundas.

But the second half belonged to Lewes as wingers David Wheeler, who had been the victim of two cynical challenges in the first half, and Steven Brinkhurst caused all sorts of problems.

Brinkhurst, who is on loan from Albion, had one shot saved by Matt Lovett who moments later produced a fabulous stop to keep out Brinkhurst’s close-range header from a Wheeler cross.

Royce had a confident penalty shout turned down, his replacement Pople was denied by Lovett after being played in by Foreman and then Anthony Barness sent a rising shot just over the bar in the closing stages.

Lewes: Banks; Barness, Pearson, Breach, Sutton; Wheeler, Keehan, Chamberlain, Brinkhurst; Foreman, Royce (sub Pople 71). Subs not used: Peauroux, Storrie, Louis, Rivers.

Booked: Wheeler, Royce.

Hampton and Richmond: Lovett, Fernandes, Smith (sub Yaku 88), Jeffery, Scarborough, Wells, Lake, Hodges (sub Charles 39), Dundas, Collier (sub Inman 78), Matthews. Subs not used: Quashie, Schoburth.

Booked: Matthews, Wells.