Disbelief as well as disappointment – for Eastbourne Borough really didn’t expect play-off dream to be dashed by Maidstone

We – all of us – pump up the expectations. We focus on success, we list the reasons why Borough would win that play-off showdown. We convince ourselves that there can be only one winner. On Sunday, the preparations had been thorough, the team was in excellent shape, and the form guide – just one defeat in thirteen games – genuinely pointed to an Eastbourne victory.

But what gets pumped up, risks being abruptly deflated. The sense of disappointment and, frankly, shock as that final whistle blew was almost tangible. While the north-east corner of the ReachTV Stadium was one deafening, ecstatic party of Maidstone delight, the rest of the ground mustered only sympathetic applause and disbelieving shaking of heads. Defeat had not been in the script.

Borough v Maidstone – dramatic day in pictures by Lydia and Nick Redman.

Perhaps the statistic which hurts the most is the final league table: Maidstone United finished a full nine points behind Eastbourne Borough, squeezing into the last play-off place in the final week of the season. But it is the Stones who will go head to head next Sunday with Boreham Wood – who also finished the regular season adrift of Borough.

It was pretty hard to take for manager Adam Murray. With huge backing from the club’s owner, as well as support from a huge team on both the coaching and the admin side, Adam has taken the Sports to new heights. But at 5.00pm on Sunday, he could scarcely have been lower.

“At this moment the overwhelming emotion is frustration. In football you can have a whole lot of highs, as we have done, but now and again you have to take a punch on the chin. We did more than enough today to take the victory. But sometimes this game kicks you in the teeth.

“We’ve broken points records, and sometimes we’ve put in performances which were above this (National South) level. We’ve seen so many learning curves from this very young bunch of platers. The frustration is being one point away from winning the league, to losing to a club who finished well below us and below our points total. The conundrum of the play-offs!”

Were the Borough hopes just a little too high? Not really. They were respected and feared across National South – and the trajectory had been up, up and up.

Murray skilfully engineered a dramatic escape from relegation in April last year, and then a summer of team-building created a platform for success. In next week’s Herald we will take a more detailed review of the 2024-25 journey – but certainly everything had been on track for promotion. The Sports missed the title by a single point, Truro City claiming the only automatic promotion place.

Owner Simon Leslie had set a target of Football League status within five years. Two down, three to go. The ambition is undimmed, and we’re rather enjoying the ride,