Hastings United disappointed Eastbourne Borough pulled out of cup tie

Borough pulled out of the second round tie – and subsequently withdrew from the competition – because they wanted to focus all their effort s on their FA Cup first round tie against Blackpool on Sunday.

That means Hastings will get a bye to round three, but United boss Chris Agutter said they’d rather have played the game.

Hastings did play one knockout game in the past week, in the FA Trophy. They put in a fine performance at home to Ashford Town that ended in a 1-1 draw, with the home side winning 4-2 on penalties. They’ll visit Aveley in the first round.

Agutter said he was pleased with how dominant they were against Ashford and disappointed they couldn’t try to build on it by taking on their neighbours Eastbourne.

“I can see both sides of their decision but I wish I could pick and choose which games we played,” he told us.

“If we were playing a side two divisions below us and I wanted to rest some of the first XI, I would use the opportunity to play some squad players or youngsters.

“For anyone who played in that game it would have been a good cup tie in front of a big crowd, and great experience for them.

“From our point of view we’re disappointed to miss out on the game and the revenue it would have made.”