Hastings 2 [Elliott 7”, Tasker 18”] Eastbourne Borough 1 [Cray 35”]
“Ancient footprints are everywhere
You can almost think that you’re seein’ double.”
(Dylan – “When I Paint My Masterpiece”)
No masterpieces on view today but you could be forgiven for thinking you were indeed seeing double. There was something curiously familiar about the Eastbourne warm-up right down to the drill involving movement in and out of a circle!
Russ, engine room for Borough from the back, and Chairman with whistle in hand today, looked at each other like two noble beasts of different species, happening to share the same waterhole and not hostile but generally remote. There was some chirruping later on, but it was of no consequence. Well done to both.
Blakie was all elegant side-footed lateral passes (some of them expansive) early doors and with the receiving players’ close control proving good, it was the hosts who started the brighter. Something had to give and on seven minutes, a passing combination split the Eastbourne middle channel for Peru to finish crisply, low to the left of visiting keeper Blackledge. 1 – 0. Calm finishing; no urge to blast through both net and back fencing but enough revs to do the job. More of that when we enter the cauldron of competitive matches please.
Blakie found Beakie for what would have been a goal moments later, but Chairman’s whistle had blown for running. Even deflections were falling to our Dutchman’s feet and there was a constant threat with build-ups that were impressively fluid for a game so early in the season.
El Jay was the first cab off the rank as sub – and that’s quite a cab. With Andy B as the other replacement, it’s quite a rank! And the Spanish One immediately found Beaky who, with turn-and-shot, forced Blackledge to parry. Almost immediately, Andy B was robbed by Eastbourne’s Cray (wearing no 4) and he rattled Colin’s left upright.
El Jay’s pink boots remind me of the neon dolly mixture I used to buy in paper bags as a nipper along the coast at Rottingdean. But he can graft as well, and showed courage when charging down a fearsome shot moments later from Eastbourne’s Dover.
A crisp move (El Jay to Blakie, Blakie to Beaks) close to the 20-minute mark saw our Netherlands talisman shoot low past Blackledge at his left corner. 2 – 0.
A Beakie outside-of-the-foot effort coincided with Chairman blowing for the interval.
Two minutes into the second half, Cray slipped the home defence, twisted into some space but was challenged on the right of the area at the Rye Road end by Peru. There was no malicious intent in the contact, but it smacked of a DOGSO and you have to wonder why there was not even a card or free kick.
El Jay was now playing up front and Hastings were more composed on the ball. But against the run of play, Cray again got loose only to blast high over Colin. Blakie (never flamboyant) showed his vision with a defensive backheel that found a teammate in burgundy.
But an alarming number of freekicks began to go Eastbourne’s way, with Russell full of ideas on how to take them in order to tee up his colleagues. He fed Dover (wearing 8) who forced a save with the legs from Colin who wasn’t exactly graceful but got enough between himself and the ball for it to spin wide.
A quarter of an hour into the second period, Cray (always the danger man) was fed by Wood (no 7.) Cray found space to finish low to Colin’s left giving him no chance. 2 – 1. By now Russ was paying close attention to Beaky. And a high Eastbourne press as they sought the equalizer often left Colin with few distribution options. There was one errant bowl-out from our man in yellow that led to yet another shot from Cray but it flew high.
Russ played well and had many ideas for the (alarming) number of freekicks that Hastings conceded in the third quarter. In the league, when opponents are more drilled, these may prove costly.
No masterpieces here. The art gallery has only just opened for the season, everybody is a work in progress and while the canvases are certainly not blank, they may progress in many ways. And I still fancy that Old Bexhillians might be the master work in the gallery. You can’t see the title going outside them and the two teams from today.
Beaky seemed to have many tricks in his bag. Dodgy Achilles notwithstanding, this season may yet prove a Dutch Golden Age.
