Eastbourne Borough

[Tony]

We have been pretty poor this half so far. Lucky to be only 1 down.

[Tony]

HT1-0. Can’t get hold of the ball and when we do we are giving it away too easily. Overrun in midfield. Maybe be some changes for the second half?

[Shepperton Supporter]

Lost 1-0, await reports.

[Josh2002]

Much better in the second half, lots of pressure without testing their keeper. Late pressure at the end too, but the hosts held out.

[Tony]

Obviously disappointing to go into our first league game with four first choice players either missing or on the bench. The starting XI never got going in the first half and we’re lucky not to concede three or four. Desbois was very busy and made some great saves with Fernandez clearing one off the line with a last ditch clearance. We lacked any bite in midfield missing key challenges and giving the ball away far too cheaply when faced by Eastbourne’s higher press. With Seymour on at the start of the second half we got more onto the front foot and began to control possession more though without creating many clear cut chances. Eastbourne missed a sitter with a header but seemed to run out of steam a bit. Our two best chances fell to Cheadle, both at the back post, one blazed over and the second a miss-timed header in added time. Perhaps unlucky to not get a penalty when Seymour went down in the box but then again with our penalty record…..

[TW10]

all depends on expectations.. 1-0 loss to eastbourne isn’t a disaster and really we look a decent team but not exceptional.. that’s summed up by our centre midfield pair of deadfield and dunne..both solid and easily this level but are not going to dominate. Our think our centre back pairing will be as good as anything on the league but are starting forward line below par. Just the way it is amd we are competing at a very high level..

[BevereeMaster]

Unfortunate that both our strikers were unable to start, once they are both fit and available from the beginning we will look a far better side. Eastbourne aren’t no push overs, good money, big budget and like people have mentioned they are now full time. Think second half showed promise. Go again next weekend

[HamptonMad]

The 19 year old that scored there goal Billy Vigar is on loan till May from Arsenal acadamy.

[Tony]

I think the club’s expectations are quite high for the season. I have no idea of our budget but talking to one of the Eastbourne supporters who is quite close to the club he said their budget was £10Kpw which is what you will need to be competing at the top end. I also bumped into one of the Eastbourne players at a service station before the game. He said they had only played three games so weren’t sure how they would get on but I thought they looked pretty well drilled in the first half whereas we found it hard to keep possession. The reality is that we are never going to have our first choice XI on the pitch every game so you need extra depth in the squad to cope and I just feel we could do with a couple of extra players if the budget allows.

[Shepperton Supporter]

Would agree with Tony, we need another striker, yesterday showed how short we are in this department. The current squad looks mid table and we have the added burden of starting the season with seven away games.
It all depends on the budget as has been pointed out.

[tones]

The fact that Hampton couldn't even start the first game of the season with their first choice eleven doesn't bode well for the rest of the season.

[Shepperton Supporter]

In his interview after the game Mel said that Julian’s back had gone, is this a repeat of last season’s injury, if so he might be out for some time?