Eastbourne Borough sink at Bath City – and slip to bottom of table

The Sports were beaten 2-0, with the Romans scoring early in each half. Although the balance of play was quite even over 90 minutes, Matt Gray’s men failed to turn some decent ball possession into scoring chances. Ahead of Bank Holiday Monday’s home game against Slough Town, they find themselves in a slightly surreal 24th place out of 24 in National South.

“The game is about glory” – as the great Spurs player and international manager Danny Blanchflower famously declared. Well, yes, but it’s also about scoring goals – and the Sports have managed only two, in 360 minutes so far.

Home defeats against Hornchurch – the early league leaders – and Dover Athletic had seen energy and pressure from the Sports, but chances were not converted. Right now, manager Gray would probably swap a bit of the glory for a lucky deflection into the net off a defender’s backside.

A trip to Bath – aside from the pounding miles of M4 – has its compensations. If your other half doesn’t like football, just drop them off en route, to relish the history and exquisite architecture of one of England’s loveliest cities. But if you’re a proper non-league addict, just step through the turnstiles of Twerton Park and go back a few decades – to concrete terracing, huge echoing stands and a grass pitch with just a teeny slight slope.

The locals are friendly, but out on the pitch there are no favours. Borough had the early initiative, with Freddie Carter’s long throws a persistently dangerous weapon – three of them, in fact, and all creating goalmouth mayhem but scrambled home clearances.

Bath City play quite an old-fashioned game, quick and direct and physical. And just 16 minutes in, they made it count: from a wicked ball over the top, Alex Fisher drew a parried save by Borough keeper Jamie Searle, but it fell kindly for Jenkins Davies to score with a scuffed follow-up.

One-nil it stayed until half-time. Borough lost George Alexander to injury, but they had plenty of the ball as well as, arguably, the moment of the half when Searle produced an incredible save from Ollie Tomlinson’s rocket of a volley.

The Sports continued to stretch City’s defence and were unlucky two or three times not to equalise. They even had to endure referee urn down the sort of penalty appeal, for handball, which these days would have been awarded in the Premier League, albeit only after several minutes of review on VAR…

Gray must have had plenty of points to make in the half-time dressing room. But just a minute after the break, that script was cast aside as Bath doubled the lead. The Bath City stalwart Jake Ash finished off a chaotic sequence of charge-downs and mis-hits to make it 2-0 – and give City crucial breathing space.

The Sports worked hard, but City were in no mood for charity and they saw out the full second half with only brief flashes of goalmouth excitement. Borough had pace and commitment, but finishing was never quite right, and they lacked that little touch of sharpness blended with a wee bit of fortune, which all attacking teams need to turn pressure into goals.

Deflation, then, and disappointment for the long haul home. But this Borough team are very far from no-hopers. A little more blend and a little more of that instinctive understanding between players, which only comes with matches – and the Sports’ fortunes will turn.