Struggling Eastbourne Borough told by boss Mark Beard: Only hard work will get us out of rut

The Sports lost 4-2 at Chippenham last Saturday and went down 2-0 at Maidstone in midweek – results which left them in the National South relegation zone.

They are 21st in the table with only four wins from their opening 17 league games, nine of which they have lost.

Yet we are still at a stage where a run of three wins will transform a team’s league position.

Going into tomorrow’s vital home clash with Braintree, the Sports are nine points behind Chelmsford City, who occupy the final play-off spot.

At Chippenham, Fletcher Holman gave Borough the lead and Leone Gravata’s strike gave them hope at 3-2 late on – but they lost 4-2. But at Maidstone on Tuesday night the Sports’ goal touch deserted them and they lost 2-0.

Beard told the club media after the defeat at Chippenham: “It was frustrating. We had a fantastic start.

"But at the moment we get ourselves into these situations where we go 1-0 up and then for five or 10 minutes we are on top. And we can see the confidence drain out of them (the opposition) but we don’t smell that danger, and that’s the youthfulness of the team.

"People may say that’s the players I’ve recruited but we’ve got so many players out injured. The two most experienced players in the team are both coming back from injury.

"But there are no excuses. We’ve got to be men – this is a tough league.

"We’ve gone 1-0 up and then we conceded a free-kick. And the free-kick comes when we’ve not switched on at a throw-in. These are the seconds and milli-seconds that count.

“That gives them (Chippenham) a bit of momentum they never had. And then at 3-1 down we get back into at 3-2 but don’t build on that.

"It’s so hard when you have young players. I keep saying that but it’s tough at the moment.

"We’re not having a lot of luck but I’m a winner, a fighter, and I have said to the boys, it’s no good crying over because you’ve got to go again.

"We’re in a tough situation but the only way to get out of tough situations is by working harder.

"I can’t keep using the excuse of the team being young… w e work every day to try to better ourselves.”