Selection dilemmas? Eastbourne boss Bloor is happy to have them

But stay calm, for they are the right sort of problems: at least two candidates for every place in his 2022-23 squad.

Bloor will take his Sports on the road to Oxford City for the August 6 league opener – but before then, he and his staff must hone down a large and highly talented clutch of trialists to finalise his first team squad.

Eastbourne Borough fixtures - analysis and full list.

Last Saturday a healthy Priory Lane attendance of 553 saw Borough take on a full-strength Crawley Town in an entertaining contest, settled by a single Crawley goal soon after half-time. Then on Tuesday Bloor took his squad to Piddinghoe Avenue, where hosts Peacehaven gave them a closer game than the 5-0 scoreline suggests.

In glowing summer evening sunshine, the Sports took the lead on the half-hour, and then surged ahead with a blitz of three goals in ten minutes straight after the break. Suspected concussion to the home keeper – happily now on the mend – caused a lengthy stoppage, and gave one of the Sports’ three keepers, Fin Holter, a chance to face his own club’s strikers.

He was beaten just once as Borough rounded off a fruitful evening. And – as in the Crawley game – Bloor had changed his entire XI at half-time.

“I was very happy with the whole evening,” said the Gaffer. “We were able to give everyone some good game time, and I was pleased with what I saw.

“We are making very promising progress. We are whittling it down, and we did move three of the trialists on after Peacehaven.”

Does he have a surplus of talent? “It isn’t an issue at all – but if it were, it would be a nice problem to have. We actually have one or two established players still returning from the close season – James Hammond and Jaden Perez had their first run-outs at Peacehaven – and the mood and energy in the camp are absolutely humming.

“We got the appetite for excitement… we simply want more of the same. Priory Lane last season was a place reborn and re-energised. It was a happy, noisy place full of action and smiles. Everybody felt it – players, officials, supporters.”