Eastbourne Borough go from one extreme to other inside four days

Glass half-full or half-empty? And what do Adam Murray and his staff and players, need to do, to put the faults right? Here’s the view of both games from the press bench – and from the technical area.

Hornchurch 0 Eastbourne Borough 1

The press-bench view: an outstanding team performance by the Borough team, against the odds. Hornchurch, a welcoming club on the crest of a wave after promotion as Isthmian Premier champions, are keen to make a National South impression. They play swift, open football with quite a “throw care to the winds” philosophy.

Early on, Borough had to repel at least two storming moves by the Urchins. Through a quite open midfield. But the Sports were equally swift on the counter, and midway through the half, David Sesay stole possession from Hornchurch defender, raced down the right, and crossed for Alfie Pavey to smash in the opening – and only – goal.

Huge controversy followed with the dismissal of Isaac Pitblado, whose slight miscontrol brought a dramatic fall by a Hornchurch opponent, and an instant red card. Borough were genuinely aghast, but they regrouped and responded with a superb hour of mainly rearguard action.

The manager’s view: “I’ve experienced some really good times already at Eastbourne – and I’ve not been here all that long! – but the performance these players have put in here is remarkable. What they’ve just done out there today, I can’t coach it, I can’t give it to them, I can’t read it in a book and teach them. They’ve just put in an absolutely remarkable team performance – solid, determined, gritty.

“They’ve shown unbelievable character to win a game of football. To be down to ten men against twelve (or so it felt to Murray). And all I am tonight is just proud of my team.

“Even though we played pretty well last week and didn’t lose (against Chesham), it’s always good to get that first win. With the standards that we set ourselves, and the expectations that we have, we look to win as many games as we can. But for me today it is not just the three points, it’s the manner in which we achieved it.”

Farnborough 2 Borough 0

The press-bench view: An immaculate grass pitch, a glowing evening in North Hampshire, and all set for a close contest – but the Sports were a disappointment. Off the pace and second-best, to a home side who were dominant on the ball, physical when necessary, and hugely experienced in managing the game once they were in the lead.

A fairly even opening, but a disappointing opening goal when Borough – playing out from the back in Murray’s preferred fashion – lost possession in front of their own box and were punished within seconds, Richard Chin finding the net from a tight angle.

And within two minutes of the second half opening, and before Eastbourne had even got out of their own half, it was 2-0. Inswinging corner cleared, but only to the edge of the box, where Taylor Clark hit a screamer of a half-volley through a tumble of bodies to double the lead. The two-goal margin was just right for the home side, who managed the game very expertly.

The manager’s view: “I take responsibility for (our poor start) – I got the game plan wrong. But I won’t apologise for the first goal that we gave away, because that(playing out from the back) is the way we play – but we have to be better at it. Our quality and decision-making have to be better.

“In the second half, we looked more like ourselves. We played our football. In the first half we had played with too much fear, and we got bullied – almost men versus boys. We tweaked a few things tactically at half-time, but immediately conceded from a set play and there is no excuse for that. The tactical changes did work, and got us higher up the pitch. But the first half faults were down to personality and character.

“This is a difficult place to come to, because Farnborough play a certain way and they’re very good at what they do. They put you under pressure, they use all the arts. Now we are a young team, and actually we need to learn from that and bring that to our game.

“On Saturday we had shown an unbelievable grit and determination – but we have to find that consistency if we are to succeed in this league. I saw plenty of good things and were the better team second half – bet we left it too late.

“The Dark Arts? Yes, we do need to bring those to our game sometimes. We can be the nicest of guys off the pitch – and I hope we are! – but as soon as that whistle goes, I’m in "match mood" and I’m the nastiest guy you could meet! I want to see more personality. More character.

“Our decision making, when to go over the press, when to go round the press, we often got that wrong. There won’t be a change – smashing it to a seven-foot target man is not my way of playing! We just have to be better at what we do. We need – for want of a better word – man up. We need more steel in our mentality and our actions.

“If we couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t be saying this. But on Saturday we did see those qualities, and I know the players have it in them. To the supporters, who were unbelievable, I say: we thank them, we’ll go again and we will justify that support!”