Match report: Eastbourne Borough 2, York City 1

They would certainly struggle to find a more depressing destination than Eastbourne Borough’s modest home, where their team seem to have developed an unhealthy addiction to painful defeats.

The Minstermen have now made three visits to the part-time Sussex club and are yet to return with a single point from any of those 600-mile round treks.

Saturday’s 2-1 defeat completed a hat-trick of poor performances there and was blighted by a glut of glaring misses in front of goal.

Neil Barrett and Leon Constantine both failed to hit the target with gilt-edged opportunities, while Michael Rankine and David Dowson fired other efforts out for throw-ins when bearing down on goal.

The struggle to compensate for the loss of Richard Brodie’s goal threat continues unabated.

Michael Gash, who has now netted just once in 19 matches, rarely gets into scoring positions to improve on that ratio and, when fellow forward Rankine limped out of the action after 28 minutes, Constantine misfired alongside him.

Dowson did inject some enthusiasm into the frontline when he replaced Gash on the hour and his willing running could be rewarded with a start against Kettering tomorrow night as, following Barrett’s deflected 20-yard shot after 54 seconds, the Minstermen did not manage another on-target attempt until Alex Lawless’ 68th-minute goal, In between, the hosts had forged into a 2-0 lead.

Michael Ingham had earlier been called into action on 16 minutes when he kept out Jamie Taylor’s low shot after Bootham Crescent old boy Richard Pacquette displayed determination to charge down Greg Young’s clearance.

The pair also combined again moments later when Taylor curled narrowly wide from 25 yards after Pacquette’s lay-off.

At the other end, Barrett broke clear on goal when Gash allowed a James Meredith through ball to run past him.

But, as with other recent efforts, the former Chelsea trainee’s shot lacked conviction and cleared a relieved Rikki Banks’ crossbar.

Constantine then squandered an even better opportunity when, just four minutes after replacing Rankine, he exchanged passes with Gash but curled a ten-yard effort wide with only Banks to beat.

At the other end, Pacquette continued to pose problems but saw his afternoon end prematurely when he suffered a hamstring injury.

Just two minutes after his departure, though, Eastbourne opened the scoring.

Taylor, cutting in from the left flank and running at a back-pedalling Daniel Parslow, elected to shoot early and bent a terrific 20-yard effort into the helpless Ingham’s top left-hand corner.

Garry Wilson’s men also made a positive start to the second half with Taylor forcing an early near-post save from Ingham.

Former Maidenhead midfielder Jamal Fyfield then lifted a poor effort over for City following a strong run by Lawless before the Sports doubled their lead on 59 minutes when Parslow appeared to misjudge Steve Brinkhurst’s deep cross from the right.

That allowed home substitute Simon Johnson to steal in front of him and head past Ingham at the far post.

Staring defeat firmly in the face, City were stirred into action against a side who went into the match with the Blue Square Bet Premier’s most generous defence.

Dowson’s persistence created a chance for himself, which was spoilt by a wild finish.

Moments later, Lawless was more composed after a David McGurk lay-off, sidefooting a 15-yard effort that was initially saved by Banks but spun over the line after hitting the Eastbourne goalkeeper’s left-hand upright.

On 72 minutes, a wasteful Constantine chested down Lawless’ cross from the right before firing over from just six yards Lawless also tried his luck twice from long range but the visitors’ last attempt to muster a point was a weak Jonathan Smith strike that was safely gathered by Banks in the 86th minute.

Match facts

Eastbourne Borough 2 (Taylor 44, Johnson 59), York City 1 (Lawless 68)

York City: Michael Ingham 7, Daniel Parslow 5, David McGurk 8, Greg Young 5, James Meredith 6, Peter Till 5, Neil Barrett 5, Alex Lawless 8, Jamal Fyfield 5, Michael Gash 6, Michael Rankine 5.

Substitutions: Leroy Constantine 5 (for Rankine 28), David Dowson 7 (for Gash 60), Jonathan Smith (for Barrett 75).

Subs not used: David Knight, Duane Courtney.

Key: 10 – Faultless; 9 – Outstanding; 8 – Excellent; 7 – Good; 6 – Average; 5 – Below par; 4 – Poor; 3 – Dud; 2 – Hopeless; 1 – Retire.

City’s star man: Lawless – his midfield promptings belatedly injected some purpose into City’s play.

Eastbourne: Rikki Banks, Ben Austin, Steve Cook, Matt Langston, Neil Jenkins, Steve Brinkhurst, Matt Smart (Simon Johnson, 19), Simon Weatherstone, Matt Crabb, Richard Pacquette (Andy Atkin, 41), Jamie Taylor (Dan Brown, 90).

Subs not used: Nathan Crabb, Yado Mambo.

Booked: Brown 90.

Shots on target: Boro 4, City 4.

Shots off target: Boro 5, City 8.

Corners: Boro 1, City 5.

Fouls conceded: Boro 11, City 12.

Offsides: Boro 2, City 6.

Referee: R Atkin (Lincolnshire).

Rating: baby-faced but gave a mature performance.

Attendance: 1,104.

Tackle of the match: Parslow’s brave crunching challenge to deny Taylor a sixth-minute shot on goal.

Miss of the match: Constantine’s failure to test Banks after replacing Rankine.

Head to head - Greg Young v Richard Pacquette

City old boy Pacquette gave Young an unsettling afternoon before having to limp out of the action late in the first half.

Playing with the bit between his teeth, Pacquette troubled the City defender both in the air and on the ground.

He held the ball up well and teed up chances for team-mates and might have also found the net himself when he fired over after turning Young on 29 minutes.