Zac zaps Pagham as Eastbourne bring Lions down to earth

The first half started with an onslaught by the visitors which continued for most of the period. The Lions did manage a decent attempt at goal in the ninth minute when Toby Funnell smashed his shot just wide of the near post, but it was a rare threat to the Eastbourne goal.

On 24 minutes, Pagham keeper Jordan Matthews was forced into an excellent save, punching a vicious shot over the bar, but it was a warning not heeded. Three minutes later, Town took the lead for good, Attwood’s shot taking a nasty deflection and bouncing into the net over Matthew’s head.

The Lions did all they could to get themselves back into the match but could not cause any real problems for the Eastbourne defence. It was 0-2 in the 41st minute as Attwood crashed home his second from the penalty spot when a rough challenge on the edge of the box was deemed to be inside the area.

Even then it wasn’t over for the Pagham defence, Attwood completing his hat-trick two minutes later, shooting through a static Lions defence for 0-3. An incident immediately following the goal led to Matthews being sent to the sin-bin, to cause the home team even more problems.

The second half started with Pagham down to ten men and Joe Clarke in goal. He coped really well though, with one very good save, as did the rest of the defence, and the Lions slowly started to cause Town a few more problems, although they could not force keeper Winterton into a save.

Lindon Miller was working like a Trojan up front but receiving no support and it was not a surprise when he was replaced by Callum Chalmers. Kieron Howard also came on, for Lukas Franzen-Jones, and immediately the fresh legs caused Town a few more problems, though again, no shots on target developed.

Jack Barnes came closest with a 25-yard free kick which flew wide, and Barnes was involved again in the 78th minute, when he was sent off, alongside Eastbourne sub Vickers, following a scuffle on the halfway line. Matthews had one more excellent save to make as time ran out and a bad day at the office was complete for Pagham.

Lions boss Kerry Hardwell said: "It was a disappointing afternoon's work from the boys after the midweek win away at Lingfield, where I felt our first half performance was one of the best I’d seen while at the club. However the first half performance against Eastbourne was no doubt the worst I'd seen and something that is so frustrating.

"We told the lads pre-match there is no room for complacency at Pagham as we are looking to finish as high as possible but we lacked the hard work, passion and desire we've shown in recent months.

"Our shape was all over the place and we conceded two really soft goals in my opinion - something I hope Jordan Matthews won’t be happy about. We asked for a reaction at half-time and we certainly got that with the majority of the second half being played in Eastbourne’s half without really creating too much.

"But in all honesty the damage was done in the first half. We must bounce back next Saturday at home to Little Common."

Pagham: Matthews, da Costa (Slaughter), Searle, Clarke, Geoghegan, Jelley, Heryet, Barnes, Franzen-Jones (Howard), Miller (Chalmers), Funnell. Subs not used: Henton, Carroll.