Eastbourne United close gap with narrow win – Eastbourne Town leave Newhaven in dry dock

The Oval pitch looked more like the surface of the moon as United took another giant step towards the play-offs. Peacehaven & Telscombe were the visitors following non-stop rain, and both sides realised early on this would prove a very tricky landscape.

United were boosted by the return from injury of Gary Ingram, but were otherwise pretty much unchanged from the squad that took apart Saltdean the previous week.From the whistle it was obvious there were going to be very few gazelle-like runs down the wings from either team as the depth of mud became apparent; it was huge tribute to the United ground staff that a playable surface had been produced at all.

The first 45 was devoid of chances as both teams’ social media channels searched for something to report, the battle being played out very much in the midfield.

The better chances went to Peacehaven, but every single time they got toward the United penalty area, there was Alfie Headland, an impassable object in the heart of defence.

Half-time came without a break in the deadlock and the talk in the bar was of both teams being happy to be in it still. After the break, United started the brighter, sensing that Peacehaven didn’t have that extra one percent in them to finish it.

Still very few clear chances emerged until Ed Ratcliffe, fresh from helping the under-23s to the County Cup final on Thursday, burst through the Peacehaven defence - trailing defenders behind him in the quicksand that was the edge of the box, slotting it neatly past Nathan Stromberg in the Peacehaven goal.