Our fifth loss of the season occurred on Monday after a stunning Siyabonga Ligendza free-kick marked the only goal of the game at the Bob Lucas Stadium.
The goal itself was truly remarkable, flying beyond Billy Terrell’s gloves towards the top-right corner.
It was, all-in-all, an unusual game, with THREE injuries between both sides happening before the half-hour mark.
In between the setbacks and Ligendza’s winner, after a major shout for a penalty had been ignored by referee Lewis Sandoe after Ezio Touray had been hacked down in the box by Freddie Carter in the second half.
Though our narrow loss ensures we remain at the foot of the table with zero points, no one can deny that, with the unusual streak of quality goals against us, our players cannot catch a break.
Mark made three changes before Monday’s game, with Calvin Brooks, Brandon Goodship and Ezio Touray earning themselves a start for the first time this season.
Brandon’s introduction nearly paid off early into the game, swinging the ball towards Jordon Thompson’s path, before Joe Wright made the save.
However, dream soon turned to despair when Brandon was forced off for Francis Amartey inside 17 minutes, following an earlier collision with ex-Terra David Sesay.
Moments before, the visitors had come close to an early lead, after Billy Terrell dived to his near-post to quickly push away Dan Quick’s low, powerful strike.
Following two more injuries within the next 10 minutes, both of them to the opposition, the game, understandably, had lost momentum.
That was until Ezio and Andreas Robinson had a quick succession of shots on goal, Wright impressively keeping three strikes out from both players
Charlie Rowan then had chances of his own, both within five minutes of added time, one of them being a header over the bar following a Leo Hamblin-free-kick.
These abundance of opportunities suggested that a goal may be scored by one of our players for the first time since the opening day.
However, in the 10 minutes of stoppage time, the biggest danger was created against our team.
Yahya Bamba was the one to pose fear, cutting inside and firing just wide to the right of Billy’s goal.
But, despite the end-of-half scare, we came out back out of the tunnel all guns blazing, when Leo’s dangerous delivery forced a vital clearance from ex-Terra Sesay.
Then came arguably the game’s biggest talking point…
It was nearly 10 minutes into the second half when Ezio was cleaned out after driving the ball into the box.
Sandoe, though, deemed Carter to have made a fair challenge, much to the protest of our gaffer, who saw himself booked.
This incident seemed to turn the tide in The Sports’ favour.
Ligendza was the one to step up and take his side’s free-kick; the strike curled way beyond Billy into the top-right corner.
Our shot-stopper, who had no chance, could only watch on as Eastbourne were now in the lead with 27 minutes left to go.
However, undeterred, our players produced almost the perfect response when Ezio unlucky fired his header the wide.
The game, though, then began to peter out as the clock ticked, until Fareed Salifu almost made the ideal introduction after coming on in the 80th minute.
The youngster, who connected with Franny’s cross, was unable to keep his header down.
Then, a piece of tremendous defending from Moussa Diarra kept The Sports in the lead, the experienced defender throwing his body in the way of Charlie’s strike.
However, for all our chances throughout the game, we once again saw us lose a game without putting the ball in the net.
But, despite our unfortunate form, it is tough to argue that we are getting increasingly closer to putting points on the board.
Who knows, maybe Saturday’s game away in Slough [15.00 BST] may finally see luck go our way…
