Pre-season Friendly
Priory Lane, Eastbourne
Admission: £5.00
Programme: None
Attendance: 200 (estimate)
For this midweek's action, I decided to pay my first visit of the season to Priory Lane for this interesting looking fixture.
Unsurprisingly, there have been no alterations to the ground since last season, although some of the Covid restrictions and precautions have been lifted since my last visit to the ground last November . Tickets are now available to purchase online, with an option to pay by credit card at the turnstiles also available.
After nine seasons occupying the bottom half of the National League South, Eastbourne Borough were having a very decent season last season, and were in third place in the table after 19 league games when the season was abandoned, losing just four of those games. Their line-up would include two triallists, one in defence, the other as the main striker. Millwall U23's team featured four triallists in their starting eleven, with a further four on the bench.
This would be an enjoyable game to watch, with plenty of decent football played, and Eastbourne took the lead on 14 minutes when a ball forward bounced off the back of a Millwall player close to the half way line for a triallist to spin and run onto and clear of the defence, he bore down on goal before slotting the ball past the keeper. On 25 minutes, Eastbourne's Greg Luer drove from wide towards the penalty area, and his low shot was diverted just beyond the post by the keeper's fingertips. Millwall U23 equalised on 28 minutes when Jayden Davis drilled the ball low across the six yard box, and Nana Boateng tapped the ball home.
Perhaps inevitable, a raft of changes came at half time, but this did not interrupt the flow of a decent game. Eastbourne's triallist striker ran onto a throughball by James Beresford, and although he got a goalbound shot away and past the keeper, a covering defender cleared the ball. But on 57 minutes, Eastbourne scored their second, and again the striker on trial played a big part, receiving the ball just outside the area before helping it on to Joel Rollinson, and he struck the ball home, taking a deflection off a defender en route. They created further chances in the remaining minutes, as did the Millwall youngsters, but there was to be no further scoring, in what was surely a very worthwhile run out for both squads, played in good spirits and at a decent tempo, and was very watchable for those on the sidelines.
Line-ups: Eastbourne Borough
Millwall Under 23s: Wright, Trialist A, Trialist B, Trialist C, Tiensia, Trialist D, Moss, Allen, Boateng, Davis, O'Brien. Subs: Gillmore, Trialist E, Trialist F, Trialist G, Trialist H.
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