U18 Whitehawk 2 Eastbourne Borough 3

OG 7′                            54′ 60′ 64′

Weber 28′ pen 

H-T 2-0

Attendance: 35

Match report by George Bryant-Nichols

For the second successive Monday night, Del Tobias’ Young Hawks had a home league game at the Terrapura – this time with Eastbourne Borough the opponents. And for the second game on the run a 2-0 half-time lead ended in a 2-3 defeat.

The Young Hawks started well, bringing the ball forward in attack, to break the deadlock in just the 7^th minute – after the Borough defender beat his own keeper from just outside the box. After much deliberation between the referee and the official on the near side, the goal was given. Whitehawk 1, Eastbourne Borough 0. 

Shouts for handball in the Eastbourne box were answered by the referee with 28 minutes played – penalty given. Sonny Weber calmly stroked the penalty home to put Whitehawk 2 goals to the good with just 28 minutes on the clock. 

Not long afterwards, the Young Hawks threatened to make their lead potentially unassailable, however a 20 yard effort ended up easily parried by the Borough keeper. 

Borough did also look like getting a goal back at times, most notably with a chance for their number seven blazed over the bar after a slick attacking move from the team in blue. A glorious chance for the Young Hawks also presented itself in the form of a free kick in a fantastic position, however unfortunately the ball was drilled by Will Gilbert straight into a resolute Eastbourne wall. 

The teams went into the break with Eastbourne 2 goals in arrears to a Whitehawk team benefitting from a catastrophic own goal and a penalty decision that taker Sonny Weber capitalised upon. 

Nine minutes in to the second period, a slick throughball allowed Borough back into the game, with the Eastbourne attacker capitalising on the opportunity and slotting the ball past Dailly. Whitehawk 2, Eastbourne Borough 1. 

Six minutes later, a moment of magic proved decisive for Eastbourne, with a brilliant strike from outside of the box beating Dailly at his near post. As Eastbourne ran off in celebration, Del Tobias implored his team for improvement. 

With three goals in 10 minutes, and a similar fate to last week for the Young Hawks, Eastbourne sealed the deal with a lone player finding himself one on one with Elliot Dailly – Borough jubilant, and the Young Hawks looking despondent after the loss of a 2-0 lead so quickly. 

Even a triple substitution for the Young Hawks (bringing on Calum Esnouf, Josh Nandhra and Michael Donovan) could not provide a goal to get them back on terms, with the score remaining 3-2 at full time despite their best efforts. 

Next time out, the Young Hawks travel to Burgess Hill Town – a 19:30 kick off at The More Than Tyres Stadium on Monday 14^th of February. They will look to maintain their advantage of a single point in the league table on the Burgess Hill outfit, ideally with a first win in 2022!