Double Late Drama - Eastbourne Borough vs. Havant And Waterlooville

Priory Lane corner shot

For the final leg of my Easter Extravaganza I headed almost to the coast for Eastbourne Borough against Havant And Waterlooville. As with The Essex Senior League game on Saturday, this was my first game in The National League South for a while. The previous match in this league also involved Havant And Waterlooville and they hosted Concord Rangers on that occasion. I have visited Eastbourne's other two sides - United and Town before but these grounds are a lot closer to the town centre. Before The Easter Weekend, Borough had an outside chance of getting into the play offs but a defeat to St Albans on Saturday made these chances seem even more remote. Havant were just outside the relegation places going into the festive weekend and they secured a vital victory at home to Hayes And Yeading to maintain their three point cushion above the last relegation place. In the reverse fixture in August, Havant triumphed four nil.

Kick off at Priory Lane

The game has a quiet start and the closest we get to a chance is when the Eastbourne full back makes an over lapping run but his cross loops straight into the hands of the Havant keeper. They have another chance to get the ball into the danger area and again the cross is easily claimed by the goalie. The Havant defence lets a long ball forward bounce and the Eastbourne forward is almost in but the keeper does well to out muscle the onrushing attacker. Havant's first half chance is a cross from the right hand side which almost deceives the keeper and bend into the goal. Havant are now getting more time on the ball and the forward just can't get enough on a header from a cross to trouble the keeper. They do however take the lead with the first clear cut chance of the game. Eastbourne are caught napping from a short corner and this allows the Havant attacker the time to pick his spot to put his side one up.

Havant deal with a high ball into the box

Eastbourne come out on the front foot and the forward just can't control the ball when he is found at the back post. They get the equaliser as an original ball in is taken away from the striker by a vital header and the Eastbourne player then chips the second effort out of the reach of the goalie and into the net. Eastbourne then nearly gift Havant the lead back when they make a hash of a free kick routine allowing Havant to break but luckily for the home side the cross in manages to elude everyone. Eastbourne are now really piling on the pressure and the forward manages to sky the ball when found by a pull back from the byline. As the game enters injury it explodes into life. Firstly, an Eastbourne ball into the box is inadvertently flicked on by a Havant defender and the Eastbourne player is first to the second ball and he sends a looping header in to give what the hosts believe to be the winner. However, Eastbourne give away a needless free kick out wide and from the resulting cross the ball is headed home at the back post to send the visiting fans wild.

Eastbourne pile forward late in the game

As I said earlier, Priory Lane is on the very edge of Eastbourne and the closest station to the ground is Pevensey and Westham. If there are no late arriving members of the train crew or debris on the line then journey takes about an hour and forty minutes. Even though it is only a small village, Pevensey has a castle and this is located five minutes away from the station. In between the station and the castle is The Heron which seems to be the only choice for a pre game drink and fortunately it is a great pub with a couple of ales on. From here Priory Lane is a twenty minute walk away. As with Havant And Waterlooville's West Leigh Park, the clubhouse is a pub located just outside of the ground. It is a great clubhouse with a wide selection of drinks and served tasty looking food.

Eastbourne celebrate in front of the stand