Eastbourne Borough need to stay with the pack – whatever the weather

After last weekend’s biblical storms and rains, the Sports headed to Maidstone in midweek with the thermometer reading zero – and tomorrow (Saturday) as they make the trip to Chesham United, it should be merely grey, mizzly and rather British. It’s in the nature of team sports – and their supporters – to have to adapt to everything from freezing fog to sweltering heatwaves.

Last Saturday, Borough coped impressively in conditions not unlike trying to play table-tennis on the deck of a North Sea trawler. Then Tuesday night saw Adam Murray’s men only narrowly beaten, 3-1 but with Maidstone’s third goal coming four minutes into stoppage time. The defeat was a little less than Eastbourne deserved, as manager Murray reflected afterwards.

“Two Maidstone wonder strikes, and a terrible error for the first goal,” Murray said.

“We’ve had a lot of decent possession, but we’ve not done enough in the final third (of the pitch). This was not a bad performance, but we needed more fire in our bellies. We were really safe, and didn’t penetrate enough. We need more consistency.”

The season is shaping up as many observers had expected: no single club is running away with National South. Weston-super-Mare, suddenly and quite startlingly flush with new money, have recruited well and have been the recent pace-setters. The Sports head west to the Somerset club on the Saturday before Christmas.

And with a leading bunch that includes the likes of Truro, Dorking Wanderers, Maidstone, Torquay and Boreham Wood – with Worthing also well in touch – there will be plenty of jostling for position as the marathon season rolls on. All Borough really need to do is to stay in the pack – and certainly not to fret over a single defeat.

Murray’s staff, though, will be missing a key influential figure after this week: assistant manager Stuart Watkiss is heading back north, after nine months at Murray's shoulder.

The wise and genial Watkiss used to be the “Gaffer’s Gaffer” – he managed Murray for several highly successful years at Mansfield. The former Wolves defender has enjoyed a richly varied career in coaching and management – from Grimsby to Malta to the BanglaDesh national team!

Young professional footballers will gladly travel the country in search of a contract. But living out of a suitcase has limited appeal for a family man, and so Watkiss is returning home – although his footballing advice will no doubt be just a phone call away for the Borough manager.