| Eastbourne Borough XI | (1) 1 | - 0 (0) |
Hastings United XI
|
Leach 26
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
A first half goal from former Brighton and Hailsham striker Dan Leach, a one time Hastings transfer target, sent United to their first defeat of the season at Priory Lane this evening, as Blue Square South neighbours Eastbourne Borough ran out narrow winners against a rather below strength United line-up. United competed well against their higher level opponents throughout the first forty-five minutes, but were indebted to keeper Lee Worgan for some decent saves after the interval, and to Jimmy Elford for a couple of goalline clearances, denying the home side a more comfortable victory.
Manager Nigel Kane was forced to field a largely experimental nineteen man squad, with new signing Scott Kirkwood unavailable, along with John Bradley, Danny Ellis and the additional quartet of familiar faces that have missed all three games to date. Kevin Rose was left on the bench, giving Dave Henham a place in the starting eleven, while Danny Spice came into the centre of midfield, and Dominic Cruttenden partnered Ade Olorunda in attack. Amongst the substitutes were two sixteen year olds in Matt Darby and Josh Jirbandey, both of whom appeared as second half substitutes, Josh in defence alongside Jimmy, one of his teachers at William Parker School. Eastbourne named a strong starting line-up, with a handful of youngsters on the bench, but were without Andy Atkin, Matt Crabb, Scott Ramsay and Allan Tait.
United performed admirably in the opening twenty minutes, and Borough struggled to impose themselves against even a makeshift defensive unit. At the other end, Ade again looked lively, with Lee Carey and Sam Adams enjoying themselves in midfield, and United arguably looked the more likely scorers in the early exchanges. Home keeper Lee Hook was not seriously tested though, and Borough noticeably lifted their workrate at the mid-point of the first half, scoring what proved to be the winning goal just a few minutes later. The dominant spell began with a surging run down the right from Jay Lovett, which resulted in a shot deflected just over for a corner. Darren Baxter and Pat Harding both went equally close as Borough forced United to defend in numbers, finally buckling in the twenty-sixth minute when the combative Matt Smart held off Lee Carey's challenge and slipped a pass between two defenders for Leach to turn a low shot past Lee Worgan. After losing Tom Cusden to injury, United responded with a thirty yard free kick from Lee Carey, which Hook did well to tip over the bar for a corner, from which Russell Eldridge curled a cross narrowly wide of the target. Russell then delivered a free kick just out of Ade's reach and Dominic wasted a good opportunity, chipping well over from twenty five yards after running on to Ade's through ball. Just before the interval, Lee Worgan saved superbly from Leach and bravely denied Baxter from the rebound, taking several minutes to recover from his resulting head injury.
United made three half time substitutions, including trialist Dom Weston from Fisher Athletic, but the home side made two of their own and immediately took the upper hand with Lovett going close with a far post volley. Adam Wilde then set up a gilt-edged chance for Leach, which the unmarked striker somehow contrived to steer wide from barely six yards out. Paul Armstrong went close after good work from Harding, before Sam twice forced Hook into fine saves with twenty yard efforts. A series of further substitutions served only to give the contest the feel of a practise match and United's youthful line-up was simply no match for Borough in the closing stages. Lee Worgan produced a stunning stop to deny Leach from point blank range, while Jimmy was smartly positioned to block goalbound efforts from Wilde and Ethan Strevett. Jimmy then managed to get in the way of Nathan Crabb's well struck shot and Lee completed a fine performance with another smart stop to keep out Strevett's curling effort as full time approached.
The final whistle brought with it blessed relief for United, who had nonetheless performed valiantly to restrict the home side to just a single goal, but it is unlikely that the contest, on the whole, will have taught Nigel much more than he already knew about the relative strengths and weaknesses in the squad at present. United's next pre-season excursion takes them to Horsham YMCA for a double header, along with the Reserves, on Saturday afternoon.
________________________________________________________________
| Eastbourne Borough XI (4-4-2) | Hastings United XI (3-5-2)
| 1 Lee Hook | 1 Lee Worgan
| 2 Darren Baker | 2 Tom Cusden
| 3 Neil Jenkins (c) | 3 Jimmy Elford
| 4 Matt Smart | 4 Dave Henham
| 5 Ben Austin | 5 Nathan Russell
| 6 Marc Pullan | 6 Danny Spice
| 7 Jay Lovett | 7 Lee Carey (c)
| 8 Darren Baxter | 9 Ade Olorunda
| 9 Dan Leach | 10 Dominic Cruttenden
| 10 Pat Harding | 11 Russell Eldridge
| 11 Adam Wilde | 15 Sam Adams
| Substitutes |
| 12 Seb Kazemi (for Smart 74) | 12 Kevin Rose (for Henham 45)
| 14 Alex Keane (for Austin 74) | 14 Nima Cham (for Spice 45)
| 15 Andy Ballard (for Baker 45) | 16 Josh Jirbandey (for Russell 69)
| 16 Paul Armstrong (for Baxter 45) | 17 Brett Griffin (for Cusden 31)
| 17 Nathan Crabb (for Pullan 63) | 18 Matt Darby (for Carey 63)
| 4 Ethan Strevett (for Harding 81) | 6 Dom Weston (for Cruttenden 45)
| GK Adam Laundon (for Hook 74) | 7 Lee Jules (for Olorunda 77)
| | 5 James Mackenzie (for Eldridge 87)
|
|
|
|
|
| | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Attendance TBC
Referee Grant Smith
Assistants David Spain & Matthew Barrowclough