Eastbourne made it a warming journey back to Sussex with three points after two goals in either half made for a disappointing night for the home faithful at the Kuflink Stadium.
Jake Hutchinson was the man of the moment on his return to the Borough side with both goals for the visitors, while Fleet were denied a penalty when Omari Sterling-James appeared to be felled in the box in the first half.
After immense efforts to get this evening’s game on with an army of staff and volunteers clearing the pitch and surrounding area through the afternoon, hardy home souls braved the weather to make their way to the Fleet’s penultimate home game of 2022.
Dennis Kutrieb made three changes as Dominic Poleon was a late illness victim, while Ben Chapman and Franklin Domi dropped to the bench, replaced by Shaq Coulthirst, Darren McQueen and Craig Tanner.
A cold evening made for an unsurprisingly lukewarm start but it was Tanner who might have capitalised first, receiving a pass from Sterling run on 7 minutes but the visitors tracked it and cleared. And Tanner was in the thick of it again on the quarter-hour mark, holding off the pursuing pack to drive a shot just wide of Lee Worgan’s post.
Sterling was net to have a go on 23 minutes, some careful approach play ending with the winger trying to curl an effort past Worgan but the goalkeeper clutched that out of the sky. Skipper Rakish Bingham went closer a minute later, a purposeful run forward ending with him smacking a shot off the corner of the upright and wide.
The talking point of the half occurred when Bingham got a yard or two on the Eastbourne defence and cut the ball back for Sterling. He had sight of goal but turned Jack Burchell, going over the defender’s outstretched leg. Home players clamoured for the penalty but then couldn’t believe when referee Norton reached for his pocket to book the Fleet player for simulation.
And that mood worsened when Eastbourne took the lead with what was pretty much their only meaningful attack of the half a minute later, Hutchinson slotting home after a corner was recycled back inside the box to make it 1-0.
Fleet’s response was a strong run through the middle by Sterling, beating the three players around him but he couldn’t get much power in a shot that headed into Worgan’s arms to signify the last real action of the half.
The referee had won few friends in the first period and began the second with a booking for McQueen. A short time later he then inexplicably failed to issue a yellow when McQueen was on the end of a clattering himself.
The Fleet No.11 picked himself up to sprint down the right and find Tanner who tested Worgan with a shot on target but Eastbourne continued to survive. A quick free-kick on the hour mark released Bingham for a cross into McQueen but his lunge was unable to poke the ball beyond Worgan either.
Sterling’s runs kept coming but he couldn’t quite unlock the puzzle for the Fleet. But a ball from the right did produce Fleet’s best chance of the game, coming on 77 minutes as Luke O’Neill got in behind the defence to deliver a tempting low cross. Somehow, as a number of Fleet players converged in the six-yard box, the ball instead fell into Worgan’s arms.
That proved costly as Eastbourne wrapped the game on the break on 81 minutes, Hutchinson again the man at the centre of it as he ran on to a lobbed ball forward by Chris Whelpdale and diverted a well-taken shot the wrong side of Cousins.
McQueen had two shots on target but both were blocked as a frustrated Fleet found the Borough defence too tough an obstacle and Worgan’s fingertips kept out Tanner’s free-kick effort. With a number of shots pinging around in time added on still not forced over the line, Worgan then tipped over another free-kick and by then it was clear it wasn’t Fleet’s night.
EUFC: Cousins, O’Neill, Martin, Hollis, N’Guessan (Chapman 75), Edser, Sterling-James, McQueen, Tanner, Bingham, Coulthirst (Domi 58). Subs: Jombati, Finney, Haigh
EBFC: Worgan, Burchell, Innocent, Dickenson, Perez, Hammond, Whelpdale, Remy (Luer 64), Vaughan, Gravata, Hutchinson (Adjei-Hersey 90). Subs: Holter, Pinto, Holman
Attendance: 604
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