TT REVIEW

Matty Hayward – @MattyHayward96

Matty reports on the loss at Eastbourne

EASTBOURNE BOROUGH 4-2 TORQUAY UNITED – 21.02.2026

SUMMARY

PATHETIC FALLACY (noun) – the attribution of human emotions to natural or non-human things, commonly used where weather reflects a mood.

E.g. The angry storm raged above his head.

It was an absolutely miserable afternoon in Eastbourne yesterday, in almost every respect. Shards of rain were driven by an unrelenting wind from one end of the ground to the other, and Torquay shipped four to the team bottom of the league.

United started under the cosh, defending their goal against the gusts, and struggling to clear their lines. This proved critical within five minutes, when a wide free kick was floated into the area. No defender got a substantial foot on it, but George Alexander did. His close-range poke was neat and effective.

It should’ve been two when Munashe Sundire gave the ball away in a dangerous position, and the home side’s number six (PLAYING LEFT WING; DON’T GET ME STARTED!) skewed his shot wide of Hamon’s post.

Moments later, Torquay started playing like title contenders. A lofted ball from JT, a driving run from Hayfield, and a moment of quality from Lo-Everton got us back on level terms. It was like a mirror image of a Jordan Young goal: he shuttled in, finger poised over the trigger once, twice, thrice, then let his shot fly into the bottom corner. Lethal.

The rest of the first half drifted, United withstanding pressure and threatening at the other end. Dreyer had a goal disallowed for a perceived foul in the set-piece mêlée, and Lo-Everton nearly scored and identical goal to his earlier one. Going in at the break level felt like a mini-win. Surely, with the weather in our favour, and fans behind the goal sucking the ball in, there was only one possible victor?

Right?

On the hour, Eastbourne scored twice in quick succession. First, George Alexander capitalised on some defensive indecision between Dreyer and James. He rounded Hamon and found the net.

Then, a long ball wasn’t dealt with and Grout fired low to send the Yellows into the gutter.

Just when you thought the game was petering out, Sonny-Blu floated a corner well over the bar and I remarked that I could’ve taken a better one.

A few minutes later he took another one. It swirled into the six-yard box, and the home ‘keeper flapped it into his own net. 3-2. Game on?

No. In the last throes of desperation, United piled bodies forward. A loose pass was intercepted and the Yellows were stung on the break. A fitting way to round off a miserable afternoon.

PLAYER RATINGS

1. HAMON – 6: In tough conditions I think he had a fairly good game. Not sure he was to blame for any of the goals.

3. FOULSTON – 4: Poor, from a usually reliable operator.

22. JAMES – 4: A debut to forget for the youngster. At fault for at least one goal, and spared further indignity by being subbed late on.

5. DREYER – 4: Hard to give a much higher score to the captain and heart of a defence that shipped four to a relegation team.

26. THOMAS – 6: Looked great first half against their left winger.

18. WORTHINGTON – 5: Had a good first half and a disappointing second.

6. SUNDIRE – 5: We’ve come to expect high standards of him, and he didn’t meet them yesterday.

20. HAYFIELD – 5: Did Dan Hayfield things. Was influential in our first goal, but didn’t have enough to change the tide of the game.

24. LO-EVERTON – 7: See below.

23. WILSON – 5: Not a right winger. Eventually hooked for Fish, who also isn’t a right winger.

7. DENNIS – 5: Not sure he was fully fit, but even so he was miles off it

Subs

11. MORGAN – 5: Offered little.

9. COOKE – 5: As above.

17. FISH – 5: Ditto.

27. JAY – 5: Copy and Paste.

16. PALMER – N/A: Probably not on the pitch long enough to deserve a barb

PLAYER OF THE MATCH – SONNY BLU LO-EVERTON

I mean, obviously the POTM played for Eastbourne. In fact, I saw him reluctantly receive his award in the bar after the game. But Torquay’s best player, by some distance, was Sonny-Blu Lo-Everton. He scored a lovely goal, forced an ugly one, and was the only player in yellow showing any industry or quality throughout.

TACTICS

With Young out injured, Wotton was forced into a re-jig. Wilson started on the right wing, Sonny-Lo ostensibly on the left, and a midfield three of Nash, Worthington and Hayfield with the latter the most advanced.

Ed James came in for his debut, replacing Ed Palmer.

THE OPPOSITION

Eastbourne were fighting for their lives, and it showed. They dealt with the conditions better than us, and taught us a lesson.

THE OFFICIALS

I’m not entirely sure the decision to rule the goal out was right, but otherwise they were faultless in a game that wasn’t about them.

CONCLUSION

We battered Chippenham but lost. Ok. One of those days.

We were robbed of a stonewaller against Maidenhead and drew. Ah. Bit of a pain. These things happen.

There’s no excuse for yesterday. It was an abject performance and an abysmal result. It feels significant. We might well look back on it as a nadir before a zenith, if anything in the National League South can be a zenith. It’s always darkest before the dawn, etc. We are second in the league; maybe it’s not all bad.

For the first time, really, I’m tempted to take the opposite view. That this defeat is a line in the sand, a final straw, insert your own ill-fitting cliché as appropriate. It is becoming increasingly difficult to defend the results of a team that we’re sure can and should be better.

It’s certainly a weekend that leaves us with a number of questions about coaches. Ba-dum-tsss.