Lewes moved back to within a point of title rivals Eastbourne Borough with a routine win over Blue Square south basement club Sutton United.

While Borough lost 2-1 at home to Bromley, the Rooks eased to three points with first half goals from Ian Simpemba, Paul Booth and Jamie Cade.

Manager Steven King said: "It was very important for us to get the three points after losing the last couple of games so this is a big boost for us.

"It was not the best of games but we got the win and that was the main thing for us."

King was desperate for three points to stay in touch in the title chase after seeing his depleted side suffer two consecutive defeats for the first time this season.

He had eased his injury problems with two new signings before kick off. Goalkeeper Michael Jordan joined as a free agent from Chesterfield and went straight into the side in place of the injured Steve Williams while midfielder Shawn Beveney was on the bench following a switch from Dulwich Hamlet.

King made one other change with striker Matt Groves coming in for Brentford loanee Charlie Ide.

Championship rivals Eastbourne Borough had swept aside Sutton 5-1 the previous week and a similar victory was expected from the Rooks.

They started on top and threatened twice in the first 15 minutes through top scorer Paul Booth.

He forced former Lewes keeper Kevin Davies into a low save with a curling free-kick before going close again with an overhead kick.

Booth wasted a golden opportunity to give the visitors the lead they craved with his next attack soon after.

He was put clean through and fired his finish straight at Davies before scuffing the rebound into the hands of the keeper.

Lewes did not have much longer to wait to break the deadlock, though, as Davies gifted them a goal on 24 minutes.

He spilt a free kick by Andy Drury straight at the feet of Ian Simpemba, who had the easy task of tapping home from two yards.

Sutton threatened briefly soon after with Billy Dunn dragging a shot across the face of goal and just wide.

But the Rooks were soon back in control and they doubled their advantage shortly after the half-hour mark.

Booth made up for his earlier miss by smashing a curling free-kick past Davies from 20 yards.

United looked a beaten team from then on and it was no surprise when Lewes added the third six minutes before the break.

Jamie Cade beat the offside trap to race free on goal and looked to have missed his chance when Davies produced a good stop. But Booth latched on to the rebound and squared for Cade to slot in from close range.

Sutton came out after the break positively and had their best chance ten minutes into the restart.

Dunn was allowed a free header at a free kick but his effort was too close to Jordan, who made a comfortable stop.

Lewes continued to look dangerous on the break and Drury went close on the hour with a shot from the edge of the box which Davies did well to save.

Ide was introduced at the expense of Booth for the last 15 minutes and he almost scored with his first touch.

He found space down the inside-right channel and his angled drive was beaten out at the near post by Davies.

Beveney was also given a taste of the action late on and threatened with a looping header which dipped over the top.

Who is your money on for the title after today's results