An eight goal thriller- and three Eastbourne points
Eastbourne Town and Deal Town met at the Saffrons. Deal hit these opponents for four back in September, but had struggled to find consistency, five of their last ten ending in victory, the other five in defeat. Their hosts were hoping for a third successive win and seemed to have found their feet after a four match losing streak, and they were given an early boost, Alfie Foster dismissed for the visitors after just five minutes, James Ding scoring the resulting penalty. The ten men levelled just after the half hour, Macca Murray also scoring from the spot, but three minutes before half time the hosts were ahead once more, James Hull the scorer. They couldn’t hold onto that lead, however, giving away another spot kick, Murray cool once more to make it two-two at the break.
The second half brought even more drama. Ding made it three-two to the hosts, and then Hull added a fourth, only for the ten men to quickly pull it back to four-three, Tom Chapman the scorer. But the last word went to Ding, who rang up three points and claimed the match ball with a fifth goal eight minutes from time, five-three the final score.
