Eastbourne Borough lose top spot at Chippenham Town

Are leaders there to be toppled? Perhaps, but Chippenham Town are the sort of side who simply play their own game, on the front foot and uncomplicated. The home side’s grass pitch was in pretty good condition, but still not playing quite as true as a 3G surface. Significantly, perhaps, all four of Borough’s defeats this season have been on grass pitches.

But back to the action. The Bluebirds almost swooped in the very first minute, with a swift move thwarted by a defensive boot. And they certainly dominated the ball and the action during those early phases, exposing the Eastbourne back line with raw uncomplicated pace.

Borough did, ironically, seem to be gaining a better foothold by the middle of the first half – when Chippenham struck lethally. A turnover of possession in the home half, a swift ball through the inside right channel which caught defenders flat-footed, and a strike on goal which new keeper Max Metcalfe parried – but only into the path of Tom Mehew, who netted decisively.

Within six minutes the Bluebirds’ lead was doubled – with an awful goal defensively. A free-kick wide on the Borough right – cheaply conceded with a slight foul on former Sport Leone Gravata – was floated beyond the back post. Centre-back Luke Haines met it with a looping header that dipped just enough to find the top corner of the net: a touch of good fortune but not the sort of defending that wins league titles…

The Eastbourne response was, at best, fitful. The usual lightning pace of Yahya Bamba and David Sesay was being effectively stifled, and Chippenham’s defence looked all too comfortable. Half-time brought substitutions and a statement of intent from Murray: Fin Ballard McBride was replaced with an extra striker in Alfie Pavey, and with a tweak of defensive shape, Pierce Bird made way for Jayden Davis.

Now Borough were attacking and pressing with better purpose – and better fortune might well have opened a route back into the game. Within fifteen minutes, Pavey had seen one header blocked and another curling too high, and the Bluebirds were on the back foot.

A two-nil lead, though, is not hard to defend – and a three-nil lead is game set and match: the whole Borough team was pushing up when an interception sent Harry Parsons racing clear – from just a yard inside his own half – to plant his shot past Metcalfe’s right hand.

Borough battled on, but the game had long since been lost, in a first half when they were a clear second-best.

THE VIEW FROM THE PRESS BENCH

(As it happens, your Herald reporter was not best placed for this one! Try working in a murky November with no power and light… Theatres would call it a restricted view, and sell off the ticket at cut price!) Adam Murray showed a kind of controlled fury after watching Borough capitulate in a twenty-minute spell before half-time. Chippenham are a strong, front-foot side, but they were allowed to rip the Borough defence apart – and not only with those two first-half goals.

This remains a talented squad, and to keep it in perspective, Eastbourne go into this (FA Trophy) weekend as joint league leaders. One or two phases of their game – notably losing possession in midfield – are leaving the back line exposed, and Murray – formidable tactician that he is – will have had a week’s worth of training to put things right.

But when they cross the white line, the Gaffer hands over that responsibility – and the players must step up.

THE VIEW FROM THE GAFFER

“We keep having a run of good results, and then get hit on the chin with a bad result out of the blue. You cannot give goals away like those two in the first half, and expect to win a football match. Well done to Chippenham, but I don’t think it’s the opposition who have beaten us. – we’ve really done a job on ourselves. Some of the defending was woeful.

“I have some decisions to make now, because we can’t keep letting the same mistakes slip through. We have two great wins – and then this. I just had a feeling today, coming into the game, that something wasn’t right. Too many of them didn’t turn up today.

“We did have quite a lot of the ball in the first half, but we didn’t do enough with it – too many sideways passes. Horrendous defending for Chippenham’s first goal, and then a set-piece which we should not have given away.

“But one defeat does not make us a bad team. We won’t go shouting from the rooftops when we win, and when we lose, we have time to put it right. But some players today have, let’s say, put themselves in a grey area…”