AFC Uckfield Town held by ten-man Eastbourne Town in entertaining draw

With the game’s hosting duties reversed to avoid a potential postponement, a sense of unfamiliarity inevitably affected both sides early on, while damp conditions also made for some uncertainty.

After a slightly faster start, the Uckers took a foothold in the 13th minute.

A well-thought-out pass found Smith in behind the Town defence and the striker finished coolly past Chris Winterton for his third goal in as many matches.

In a hard-fought spell from that point, the evening’s unofficial hosts came close to adding to their league-high 75 goals on a couple of occasions.

But forwards Zac Attwood and Jack Langford were frustrated by the Uckfield defence and Anthony Storey’s side managed to see out their lead at half-time.

That encouraging sign was, however, swept away just three minutes into the second half, with Attwood the beneficiary of a fine move as he struck past Phil Hawkins for an 11th goal of the calendar year in just nine appearances.

With Town left-back Sam Cole dismissed just a few minutes later, the Uckers avoided an onslaught and instead regained momentum soon after, with substitutes Dee Okojie and Liam Baitup adding a new attacking dynamic after the hour mark.

Despite a gutsy performance, the Uckers found themselves denied on a number of occasions by a home rearguard who, even with a numerical disadvantage, were as assured as their record as this season’s best defence suggested.

Ultimately the evening’s hosts made sure that the points would be deservedly shared.

AFC Uckfield Town: Hawkins, Norman (Okojie, 56’), Cooper, Hickman-Smith, Hull, Stewart-Hunter, Rodrigues-Barbosa (Townsend, 65’), Maclean, Smith (Baitup, 56’), Cormack, Camara Unused: Samways, Scott