Eastbourne Town 2 v 3 Little Common

Tuesday 8th December 2020

Southern Combination League Premier Division

The Saffrons, Eastbourne

Admission: £6.00

Programme: £1.50

Attendance: 230

It promised to be, literally, a freezing cold evening on the Sussex coast tonight, with temperatures forecast to hover just above freezing point, and when I returned to my car after work at 5pm, already my windscreen was covered in ice thanks to lingering freezing fog. Normally, such conditions would have very much made me think twice about venturing out to watch football in the evening, but after four weeks without football up to last Wednesday, I wanted to make up for lost time and take in every opportunity to watch games at the moment, and cold conditions would not put me off this evening, armed with four layers of clothing and my thickest winter coat, hat and gloves. 

This evening my local Step 5 / 6 league restarted after Lockdown 2, and I chose to pay my first visit of the season to The Saffrons, for something of a local derby between temporarily cross-town rivals, as Little Common currently continue to play their home fixtures away from their home village on the outskirts of Bexhill, at Eastbourne United's The Oval.

The only alterations to The Saffrons since my last visit in January have been Covid related. Now, the entrance closest to the town centre was not in use, instead all spectators had to enter via the entrance by the clubhouse between the football ground and the adjoining cricket field. The NHS track and trace QR code was readily available, and temperatures were taken next to the pay hut. It was great to see that Eastbourne Town still produce excellent programmes, with a unique, eye-catching front cover. Consisting of 32 pages, partly in colour, it contained photos from the club's most recent game, stats from the league, introduction of the visitors, a club history and news from the various teams within the club.

Eastbourne Town have had a decent start to their campaign, and came into this game in third place, following seven wins and a draw from their opening 11 league games. The Lockdown 2 break did not come at a good time for them, as they had won their previous four league games, and sealed progression in the Sussex Senior Cup with a 5-1 home win against Shoreham. Little Common were in 14th place, following three wins and three draws from their 10 league games.

Conditions were certainly freezing cold this evening, as the white glaze on any area of grass indicated, but mercifully there was no breeze which would have made it feel much colder still. Little Common made a great start, opening the scoring with just five minutes on the clock, after the ball was threaded through and Sam Cruttwell coolly slotted past the keeper. Eastbourne equalised on 14 minutes, after the ball was crossed low, and after an initial shot was blocked, Aaron Capon drilled the ball home. But on 37 minutes, the visitors were awarded a penalty after Kiyan Moynes broke clear and after reaching the penalty area, as he tried to knock the ball to one side of the keeper, the keeper brought Moynes down, although there were plenty of protests that he might have got the ball. Cruttwell stepped up to strike the ball into the bottom right corner from the spot. And Little Common kept their 1-2 lead at the break.

Eastbourne came out very much on the front foot after the break, and after a first time shot on the stretch shaved the woodwork on 52 minutes, they did equalise on the hour mark, after the ball was crossed in from the left, just evaded a defender and Capon tapped the ball home from close range. There only seemed to be one winner now, but after spurning a couple of great chances to move into the lead, the visitors were awarded their second penalty of the evening, again conceded by the keeper as he brought down Adam Smith on 76 minutes, and Cruttwell this time struck the penalty into the left side of the goal, to seal his hat-trick, and put his team back into the lead for the third time. In the remaining minutes, Eastbourne came so close to equalising yet again - on 79 minutes, after the keeper pulled off a smart save from a free-kick whipped in from the left, from the resultant corner he parried a header onto the cross bar, and from that resultant corner, a drilled shot from the edge of the area hit the bar and went over. On 84 minutes, Eastbourne hit the woodwork again when a floated cross brushed the bar, and two minutes into added on time, a curled cross from deep was helped on its way by a backwards header, but the ball dropped just over the bar. And so Little Common held on to claim a valuable three points, although Eastbourne Town will kick themselves for failing to get anything from a game they created plenty of chances in, points they could ill afford to drop as they chase a top two, promotion berth.