Pre-Season Friendly
The Saffrons, Eastbourne
Admission: £4.00
Programme: None
Attendance: 200 (estimate)
Match Rating: 3
I decided to take in this interesting looking friendly game this evening, which promised to be a good match up with just one league step separating the two teams, and a good crowd was expected, with Eastbourne Town being relatively well supported these days and having Pier Pressure and Beachy Head Ultras offering vocal, visual and drumming support, and Hastings United usually bring a decent support to away fixtures.
Visiting The Saffrons is always a pleasure on a nice day, with quaint little touches to the ground like the cricket field and the South Downs behind one length and a bowling club and the Town Hall and church behind the other. Nothing has visibly changed since my last visit in April, and no programmes were produced for this fixture.
On a sunny evening, which became surprisingly chilly as the evening wore on, Hastings were by far better side during the first half, playing some really good passing football and doing plenty of attacking but the finishing was generally woeful to the point of being quite laughable during the first half hour. But they eventually did score on 31 minutes with a lovely goal, drilled in from outside of the area by Jack Dixon beyond the keeper's outstretched arms. And they scored another on 39 minutes, when Dayshonne Golding, who showed some great footwork along the byline before lashing the ball past the keeper from a tight angle.
The second half was almost the complete opposite of the first half, with Eastbourne the better team for long periods and Hastings' play was disjointed and rather aimless for the most part. Eastbourne did not threaten that much however, and shortly after a rather bizarre pitch invasion in slow motion by a man who had had far too much to drink, and with no apparent urgency to remove him, Eastbourne scored on 59 minutes. A free kick was floated towards the back post, headed back across goal and Aaron Capon poked the ball home at full stretch. There was not too much excitement for the rest of the game, and presumably this would have been a great game for the respective coaching teams...aspects that would have really pleased them, but plenty to work on too.
In general, this was an entertaining game to watch for a friendly, with a decent crowd generating a fair atmosphere, and it had the feel of a competitive game, with the real thing starting on Saturday.
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