Injury problems for Eastbourne Town as leading scorer faces spell on sidelines

Eastbourne Town missed a late penalty as they were held to a goalless draw at home to East Preston this past Saturday.
Eastbourne Town drew 0-0 with East Preston last SaturdayEastbourne Town drew 0-0 with East Preston last Saturday
Eastbourne Town drew 0-0 with East Preston last Saturday

The result sees Town sit 10th in the Southern Combination Premier table, thirteen points off the leaders after failing to close the gap.

“We didn’t play great on Saturday, but I thought we dominated most of the game,” explained Town boss, John Lambert.

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“They (East Preston) weren’t too bad, but they sat back a lot and our final ball wasn’t great. It wouldn’t seem to go in and the penalty miss with five minutes to go summed the day up really. But it’s another clean sheet and we’re looking good defensively now.

“We have to take the positives in that we were the better side and it’s another clean sheet but at the end of the day that is another two points dropped and if we want to challenge at the top, we need to start closing the gap sooner rather than later.”

Town also suffered yet another injury setback as top goal scorer Dan Perry was carried off with ligament damage. Lambert says the talisman will be out of action for a few weeks and he will have to consider bringing in a replacement if Town are to replace his goals.

Town have a noticeably favourable run of games in the lead up to the festive period in terms of distance to travel rather than quality of opponent. Starting with a short trip across town to the Oval to take on Little Common tomorrow, (Saturday, 3pm), Town then have a run of four consecutive home games before another short trip across town to Priory Lane to take on Langney Wanderers and then the traditional boxing day derby against Eastbourne United at the Saffrons.

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Lambert will be hoping his side can capitalise on the opportunity before them and put a run together that takes them much closer to the top of the table than they are currently and give the vocal Pier Pressure fans something to sing about over the Christmas period.

Little Common are on a run of six games without tasting defeat, including four wins and most recently secured a 2-2 draw at home to Shoreham thanks to Jamie Crone’s 88th minute equaliser.

“I know Russell (Common manager) well and his teams don’t give you an inch, so it will be a tough game and we need to be on our game from the very start,” said Lambert.