How holiday weekend turned sour for struggling Eastbourne Borough

A single-goal home defeat to Truro City last Saturday was followed by a better performance – but another blank day – at Chelmsford on Monday. Both matches ran to a similar script: plenty of effort and several missed chances, undermined by a late opposition strike.

Scratching his head, or tearing his hair out? Manager Mark Beard cut a frustrated figure on Chelmsford City’s running-track arena as the final whistle blew on another blank day. With just four points from six games, the Sports enter September in a highly unfamiliar second-bottom position in the league table – and Beard must turn it round.

Hunt for goals is key for Mark Beard.

At its simplest, he needs a proven striker. Borough look eager and creative – and they created a clutch of chances in both games. But against both Truro and Chelmsford, snatched and fluffed finishing undermined all the good work.

Another healthy home crowd of 1,250 filled Priory Lane with expectation as Borough launched into Truro City. But within a minute of kick-off, an injury to Alex Finney forced the experienced defender off – and with Brad Barry also absent, the Sports line-up looked very young indeed. By midway through the half, Beard had also lost lively young front-man Stefan Vukoje to a serious ACL injury – and Plan A had been tweaked to Plan C.

First-half chances were fairly few. Truro keeper James Pardington was at full stretch to reach Sam Beard’s huge inswinging free-kick, and several times the explosive pace of Leone Gravata had City defenders scrambling. At the other end, the Cornish visitors saw their only chance of the half – a Sam Saunders strike from a corner – denied by a brilliant Dudzinski reaction save.

But Borough were certainly the livelier and more adventurous side, and after half-time they should have been a couple of goals up. Leone Gravata struck a low effort straight at the keeper before great defending from Ben Adelsbury denied Decarrey Sheriff from picking out an unmarked Bridgman at the far post.

Then came what proved to be Borough’s golden opening. Sheriff did well to weave his way inside from the left, and his low cross picked out Bridgman six yards out. After seeing his initial volley blocked by Ryan Law, the rebound again fell to the winger but he rushed his shot and skewed the ball wide.

And the Sports were made to pay 16 minutes from time when Truro claimed a scarcely deserved winner with their only clear chance of the half. Porter was left unmarked to sweep home – his shot bouncing between three home defenders past a helpless Dudzinski. The Cornishmen couldn’t believe their luck – but fortune is certainly failing to favour Borough right now.

And so, with a swift turn-around – and after the Borough squad were called in for a Sunday session – Beard took his team on that uninspiring journey up the A12 to Chelmsford City’s rather forbidding athletics stadium.

Joining the journey, a coachload of loyal Borough supporters had made the trip, together with several carload: an impressive turn-out. Club owner Simon Leslie also looked on – from the away directors’ allocated twenty seats, so crammed with “friends and family” that three of Borough’s former directors found themselves looking for seats elsewhere in the main stand. Not quite the most dignified moment of the season so far…

On the pitch, Beard welcomed back his club skipper Brad Barry, in a team shape designed to smother Chelmsford’s attacking force. And his players responded with discipline, intelligence and terrific commitment. The Clarets, second in the table and unbeaten this season, were blunted, while Borough’s movement in possession was quick and enterprising.

An even first half had seen chances at both ends. Sam Beard’s swinging left-wing cross was met by Billy Vigar who, with an awful lot of goal to aim at, could not quite get enough power on his header. At the other end, Dudzinski survived a frantic pinball moment when his defenders gave the ball away to Mo Dabre – who with the goal yawning cracked his shot against the right hand post and back into Ben’s arms. Phew.

But Eastbourne were looking far from second best, and soon after half-time they created their best move of the game – and missed their best chance. A superb lightning transition out of defence saw Jack Paxman release Gravata down the left, to drill a perfect ball across the City goalmouth for De-Carrey Sheriff, who blazed over a gaping goal from barely ten yards. In fairness, De-Carrey has been a Borough success story this season, tearing defences apart with his pace and movement. But that was the pivotal moment.

Settle for a point? Well, Borough probably would have done so, and they were well worth it. But into the final half-hour, they were controversially behind. With Chelmsford pressing, a ball into the Eastbourne area was cleared to the City left touchline, right in front of the away dugout – but caught in mid-air by Ben Brookes, who advanced and took a swift throw-in at least ten yards up the touchline. Samir Carruthers flicked the ball across to Charlie Ruff, but the substitute’s hopelessly skewed shot fell fortunately into the path of Francis - who fired low past Dudzinski from close range.

But there were question marks over the goal – and not simply the taking of the throw-in. Barry had been hauled over, off the ball, by Adam Mills and although the referee saw it, and later booked Mills for the incident, he chose to wave play on and allow the goal to stand.

Simply, Borough had been mugged. They summoned every last ounce of effort to battle back, but came no closer than a Paxman free-kick, pushed at full stretch on to the post by home keeper Oluwayemi. Football is a game of fine margins.