Inconsistent Eastbourne Borough continue to frustrate – loss to Slough Town leaves hard work ahead

Not that it is a sequence of Tommy Widdrington’s choosing. His team returned pointless from Slough Town on Saturday after a desperately close contest and a 2-1 reverse. The Sports’ previous three games had brought high scoring victories, 5-2 at Dover and 4-3 at Tonbridge, sandwiching a 0-3 home defeat to Sussex rivals Worthing.

As it happens, a haul of eight victories from the remaining 16 league fixtures would probably keep Borough clear of the dreaded drop zone. But management, players and supporters were left to reflect on a maddeningly close contest at Arbour Park.

Widdrington is a manager who keeps the dressing room door firmly shut when he debriefs his quite youthful side, but he had certainly shared his wisdom with them.

“There are certain standards which I expect, and which generally the players buy into and are working to meet them. But sometimes we are facing a situation where you don’t know what you’re going to get from half to half,” he said.

“We’ve started the game like we did at Tonbridge the other night, and we should have taken this game away from Slough in the first 20 minutes. We should have been out of sight. But we made the wrong choices in their half of the field, and we’ve let them back into the game. In the second half, to be honest, Slough beat us up a little bit.

“You can count on one set of fingers the number of players who can really come out of that match and say they actually participated in the whole 90, or 100, minutes. Some people have played some really good stuff, but for little spells in the game and not the whole match.”

In a blistering start which defied the freezing conditions, Eastbourne had dominated the early action.

George Alexander - back in his number 9 starting shirt after weeks and months of maddening injury issues - and Maxwell Mullins both came close before, on 15 minutes, skipper Craig Eastmond expertly peeled open the home defence and drilled across a ball which Alexander triumphantly smashed into the Rebels’ net.

And the Sports remained on top until Slough snatched an equaliser on the half-hour, Kiki Oshilaja creating and finishing his own chance for 1-1. At this stage there was no more than the spin of a coin between the two teams.

Borough had more of the ball and more of the positive moves, with the Rebels clinging on grimly - and only the heroics of home keeper Adam Desbois prevented the visitors from turning dominance into goals. His diving full-stretch save to deny Alexander, soon after half-time, was a class apart - and was probably the pivotal moment.

And on the hour mark, with Eastbourne still on top, Slough snatched a 2-1 lead, Wiktor Makowski ran on to a killer pass from Jared Myers’s and beat Sports keeper Williamson with a low finish into the corner of the net.

Borough absolutely pounded the home penalty area, right until the final whistle, and locals and visiting supporters alike found themselves agreeing - in best cordial non-league spirit - that a draw would have been about right. But the record will show otherwise.