Eastbourne Borough suffered only their
second defeat in 11 away games as they were comfortably
beaten at Nene Park last night.
Goals from on-loan Crawley striker Jefferson
Louis on the stroke of half-time and Michael Corcoran
seven minutes after the restart were enough to keep Rushden
and Diamonds on course for the play-offs. Borough looked
lethargic fully their magnificent victory over Wrexham
with ten men on Saturday and failed to register a single
shot on goal. Boss Garry Wilson said: “Although
they had a lot of the ball they were not really creating
any chances so we were really disappointed to go in 1-0
down at half-time. I told them to keep it tight in the
second half but a slack piece of marking at a set-piece
made it 2-0 and it is hard to get back from there. Both
goals came from set-pieces which is hard to take. They
are a big powerful team and we were missing the height
of people like Danny Brown, Ben Austin and Andy Atkin.”
Borough handed a debut to Sacha Opinel
who joined on a month’s loan from Farnborough when
the loan window opened yesterday. Wilson had little option
but to bring in a defender with Neil Jenkins suspended
for four games following his second red card of the season
against Wrexham on Saturday and Austin and Danny Brown
both ruled out through injury. Opinel went straight into
the side in place of Jenkins at left-back in the only
change from the team which beat Wrexham. It
was tough on Ollie Rowe who had done well as a substitute
after Jenkins’ dismissal on Saturday but he will
probably get his chance on Saturday with Opinel banned
for the visit of Luton.
Borough reverted to the 4-5-1 formation
which has served them so well away from home this season
with Joe Benjamin dropping back to left-wing and Matt
Crabb tucking into the centre. The tactic was intended
to stifle a Rushden side which had scored nine goals in
their last two outings and it worked until just before
half-time. The home side enjoyed the majority of possession
but were unable to create too many clear cut opportunities.
Craig Farrell fired wide from 12 yards
after 19 minutes and also sliced another effort wide while
Aaron O'Connor shot deflected past a post off Marc Pullan.
Borough were happy to soak up the pressure and see if
they could nick a goal on the break. Just when Borough
thought they had done enough to get in goalless at half-time
Rushden broke the deadlock. Farrell swung over a free
kick from the right and Louis rose above Pullan to plant
a header past a helpless Danny Knowles.
It was a body blow for Borough and their
vulnerability from set-pieces was exposed again seven
minutes after the break. Wilson had switched to 4-4-2
in a bid to get back into the game but they were left
with a mountain to climb when Corcoran lost Opinel to
head in unmarked from a corner to make it 2-0. Wilson’s
problems increased when Simon Johnson had to go off after
taking a knock to the nose in the 62nd minute. Borough
rarely threatened to get back into the game and could
have fallen further behind if Rushden had shown more composure
in front of goal. Knowles saved well from Farrell while
substitute Sam Smith fired just over after cutting in
from the left and then stabbed a shot narrowly wide after
being put clean through.
Words : Steve Hollis - The
Argus
