Dartford win is huge for Eastbourne Borough – but more victories are needed now

Two goals, midway through each half, from Yahya Bamba were enough to secure the win, and change the narrative in this dramatic, lurching Borough season.

It was all the more vital after a difficult Good Friday clash with Maidstone, which Borough lost 5-1 after having two men sent off.

Boss Adam Murray said the three points gained at Dartford were ‘huge’. "I was proud of the performance. From minute one we showed unbelievable desire, passion and grit to make sure whatever happened in the game we came out as winners,” he said.

Eastbourne Boro v Maidstone in pictures by Nick and Lydia Redman’s pictures.

Nick and Lydia Redman’s pictures from Dartford 0 Sports 2.

"I’m over the moon for the guys – we deserved it. We should have been 5-0 up at half-time so we can talk about a great defensive effort but it was an unbelievable attacking performance. We defended as a unit and there were some really big individual performances.”

A couple of hundred faithful fans had made the shortish journey to Princes Park to give Adam Murray’s men a huge boost and an ecstatic ovation at the end of a tense afternoon.

When Simon Leslie bought this club, he bought more than bricks, mortar and 3G turf: he inherited a deep-rooted Eastbourne institution.

In truth, this was not a game of the highest quality, but just feel the width – between fourth bottom and fifth bottom in the National South table. These three precious points have levered Borough out of the relegation places for the first time since Christmas.

And there was quite a gulf between the two clubs. While the Darts – traditionally one of the strongest competitors in National South – looked shapeless and frankly quite spineless over most of the ninety minutes, the Sports have actually drawn strength from their season of adversity.

Borough may still fall short, of course. Five matches remain – starting with a home clash with Weymouth tomorrow (Saturday) – and they need three more victories at least. But while there is life, along with determination and planning, they have at least an even chance.

Let’s re-run the Princes Park action. Harrison Foulkes retained the keeper’s jersey, did everything right, and produced one breathtaking save to keep out a top-corner effort from Dartford’s Paul Rooney – one of few home chances.

Deprived of Pierce Bird through injury, Murray restored Moussa Diarra to his defence. Alongside him. Freddie Carter is playing beyond his years, while Sam Beard and David Sesay had licence to race forward.

Skipper Brad Barry was a rock in central midfield, and Alfie Bendle and Jack Clarke ran their socks off. This column once described Clarke as Eastbourne’s Jack Grealish – well, they share the same headbands and the same hip-swerve, but Our Jack is a creator in his own right.

And up front Finn Ballard McBride enjoyed his best game yet in a Borough shirt, while the ebullient Matt Green brings a new dimension and great movement, challenging, posing opponents problems.

That makes ten of the starting eleven. Who have we left out? Of course, the man who is fast becoming the cult figure of the Lane. Yahya Bamba must be the quickest player in National South. He is adventurous, hard to mark and impossible to read. Imagine an opposition dressing room with Borough’s line-up scribbled on the whiteboard. "Now then, lads, Eastbourne have got this new guy, Bamba. Isthmian League. Bit of pace. Who’s going to mark him?" Stony silence…

Dartford had nobody who could hold him. Yahya had already torn up their left flank more than once, before he popped in the opening goal on 18 minutes when home keeper Rhys Byrne misjudged a cross. And midway through the second half he forced his way past a stranded last defender to clip a shot – ever so slightly miscued – in off the left hand post for 2-0.

Bafflingly, the home side – during and after the game – vented a lot of anger on Borough’s tactics, which amounted to no more than legitimate game management. If you control the ball, you control the passage of the game. And still more surprisingly, the Princes Park post-match complaints focused on the referee – who happened to be Steven Hughes, the best official in National South. Mr Hughes talks to the players, talks to the bench, takes no nonsense, and he managed this game splendidly.

Speaking of management, what about Borough’s current gaffer? Pitched in to a crisis club, he has been rather like the guy in the Westerns who leaps aboard the runaway stagecoach, and hauls it back under control. He has a few more bows and arrows to dodge before the wagon reaches safety – but all know the good guy wins in the end, don’t we?

Murray could manage higher. If genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration, then Adam fits the formula. Actually it may be nearer to about 25-75, but either way, the Borough manager has qualities that can mould a successful team.

Murray has settled on a team shape that works for these players and for this current situation. The players know and understand their roles. They know when to keep the ball, when to run the ball, where to move the ball, where to run to receive it. This current Eastbourne team is a coaching manual in motion. It’s such a step forward from the first half of the season.

And the extra component is mentality: the players believe in each other and they believe they can keep the club clear of the relegation quicksand. They are on board with the mission.

Saturday brings mid-table Weymouth to the Lane – and that mid-table tag may work to Borough’s advantage. The Terras are a solid outfit, hard to beat – but after the surprise departure a fortnight ago of manager Bobby Wilkinson, they do not have a lot to play for. A front-foot Borough, with a freshly optimistic home crowd behind them, can seize the three points.

Then in midweek – Wednesday 10th – the Sports must head west to Gloucester for the re-arranged game against Truro City – a fixture abandoned a fortnight ago because of the serious injury to defender Alex Finney. The journey is far from over.