Bexhill College Men’s 1st team, in association with Chelsea Football Club Foundation and in partnership with Eastbourne Borough Football Club, signed off for Christmas with a 4-2 away victory against Maidstone United in the National League Under 19 Alliance.
With the Academy coping with 20 players unavailable for the game and facing a determined Maidstone United side, Eastbourne started the game well and created several chances from corners without troubling the Maidstone goalkeeper too often. Alex Hobden in the Eastbourne goal on the other hand was in impressive form and kept Borough in the game in the first half with a string of fine saves.
Despite Hobden’s fine form, Eastbourne found themselves 2 goals down following a quickfire double from the home side and Borough were fortunate to be awarded a lifeline back into the game when awarded a fortuitous penalty, which Sonny Walsh converted to see the scoreline read Maidstone 2-1 Eastbourne.
A double substitution at half time saw Eastbourne start on the front foot and one of the subs Ethan Howard was tripped in the box following a mazy run to give Walsh the opportunity to score his 2nd penalty of the game which he achieved. With the momentum shifting in Eastbourne’s favour, Howard latched onto a Charlie Gibson through ball and lashed the ball into the roof of the net to give Eastbourne the lead for the first time in the game.
Maidstone continued to be a threat and two outstanding saves from Hobden from consecutive corners prevented the home side from levelling the scores. The points were secured when Walsh converted a Howard corner with a flick with the outside of his boot to round of the scoring and see Eastbourne run out 4-2 winners.
Eastbourne coach Sean Noble reflected on the game; “ Credit must go to the players for turning round a two-goal deficit, however, we must learn as team that we cannot allow teams a two-goal lead and expect to win regularly as we will continue to play good sides who will punish us if we continue to make errors. It is nice to end the calendar year with two victories and we hope that this may be the start of a run of form which will see us move into the top half of the table.”
Players of the Match
Sonny Walsh & Alex Hobden – In normal circumstances a player scoring a hat trick would see them walk away with the award. However, without the important saves from Alex Hobden, the game would have been gone and Maidstone would have been out of sight.
Eastbourne Team
Hobden, Rivers, Collings, Ademola, Ketchell, Scullion, Duah, Marchant, Gibson ©, Latuske, Walsh
Subs
Williams, Howard, Jarrett-Lillie
For more information about the Football Academy please visit: https://www.bexhillcollege.ac.uk/sports-clubs-and-academies/football-academies/
