55 pictures and full report: Eastbourne Borough suffer early setback with loss to Hornchurch

Take nothing for granted, in this new National South. The division is teeming with talent, ambition and funding. Clubs will be jostling for position like commuters on the Underground platform, eager for the train doors to slide open. Destination? Well, just as long as we avoid a season on the Circle Line and finish up back where we started.

But on Saturday’s evidence, the journey to next May might well be less of a relaxing scenic ride, and more of a jolting stop-start. The Sports were derailed by an eager Hornchurch side whose own ambitions are probably modest – but who will jostle for advantage and will upset many more opponents as the season rolls on.

The Pink Army – many of them recruited and raised on last season’s thrilling play-offs assault – were stunned. Facebook comments reached three figures, and one supporter wrote a damning judgement: “Absolutely dire. Completely outplayed at home, imagine when we play a decent team in this league… don’t want to hear the “give it time excuses” “

Hornchurch fans were a cheerful lot, out for a grand day on the coast. They had travelled south in numbers – well over a hundred – by car, train and charabanc, and some were making a weekend of it. In the first half, with their favourites attacking the River End, they made an enormous racket, and the Pink Army found themselves briefly outsung on their own manor.

On the pitch, the Urchins would prove what we already knew: Daryl McMahon has built a side which plays to its strengths of pace and directness. Last season a respectable mid-table finish, and this time they could do better still, with canny additions to the squad which include the excellent Josh Hare – once an eager youngster in Tommy Widdrington’s Borough, and now a seasoned steadying presence in the Hornchurch back line.

And what we saw – to the dismay of some Borough fans – was what we might well witness again in the coming weeks. Matt Gray is building a team almost from scratch, and they need to knit together quickly. In an unforgiving National South, the margins for error are minimal.

This was actually a game of very fine margins, and right up to stoppage time, any of the three outcomes were possible. In a sometimes raggedy, often hectic 90 minutes, possession turned over frequently. Both teams had scoring chances, and certainly neither defence looked rock solid.

The Borough teamsheet was one for the archivist: an unchanged starting XI from the opening-day draw at Farnborough. Priory Lane has seldom witnessed that since the days of Garry Wilson! And these days, with seven substitutes on the bench, managers have plenty of options over ninety minutes. There is little time to relax for ReachTV Stadium announcers these days, but they keep up admirably: take a little bow, unsung heroes Andy, Trevor and David!

We were off to a flying start. In just the second minute, George Alexander arrowed into the Hornchurch box but was stopped by a riskily – but successfully – timed tackle, as he shaped to shoot.

After that opening, goalscoring chances were actually about equal: both teams attacked with pace, and defences were stretched. Although the quality of play was never sky-high, there was plenty to keep the Priory Lane crowd gripped.

Then just past the quarter-hour, the Sports grabbed a startling opening goal. A right-wing corner was swung in by Isaac Pitblado’s expert left foot, and with a little bit of wind-assistance it curled just inside the unguarded front post for 1-0.

Ah yes, the wind! Regular supporters are used to it, of course – but usually it’s a brisk south-westerly straight off the English Channel. This time the Weather Gods had contrived a little bit of mischief for Airbourne, and the teams had to contend with a drilling north-easterly straight off the Pevensey Marshes.

Partly due to those conditions, the match had developed into a fast and direct contest, with quick attacking breaks, scrambling defenders and sometimes chaotic penalty areas. If the game had been an air flight, the seat-belt warning lights would have been flashing red!

Midfield was often by-passed as the game stretched longer, with Jes Uchegbulam always a pounding, powerful threat on Eastbourne’s left flank. His best effort, a rising shot on the angle, was palmed up and away by keeper Arthur Nasta, only to rebound off a defender and draw a frantic second save as it bounced off angle of post and crossbar.

With half-time just five minutes away, one of those pockets of turbulence brought a Hornchurch equaliser. It all happened almost too quickly for the naked eye: a Darren McQueen cut-in from the left, a Josh Rees shot beaten out by Searle but followed up with a second Rees shot that thudded off the crossbar, and a final thump into the net by striker Myles Weston.

The second half was a disappointment and quite an anti-climax. Play was disjointed and chances were fewer. Borough looked sound at the back, with Freddie Carter and Cam Gbadebo forming an impressive centre-back pairing. But they lacked a creative influence in midfield, and Hornchurch were eyeing a 1-1 draw as a point gained from their awayday travels.

The Sports came close to snatching a lead when Uchegbulam arrowed a lovely pass to Alexander, racing between the centre-backs, but with only a split-second to set his gunsights, the Eastbourne striker drilled his low shot beyond the far post.

And so to the ninety-minute mark, and beyond. A darting Hornchurch run down the left produced a curling cross, and – with six home defenders in the box – substitute Angelo Balanta steered a header past Jamie Searle for the clinching goal.

It was slightly more than Hornchurch deserved, but the Sports had no time to respond. Unbeaten at the ReachTV Stadium in National South for the whole of 24-25, Borough had fallen to an ambush in the very first home match of the new campaign. A marathon, not a sprint? Absolutely – but Matt Gray and Jason Goodliffe know that they have work to do.