National League South: Eastbourne Borough 2-0 Taunton Town

TAUNTON Town's recent spell of form came to an end on Saturday (March 16) as they were defeated by Eastbourne Borough.

Playing away from home, the match ended 2-0 and sees the Peacocks drop down to 20th place in the National League South.

Making their second visit to Priory Lane this season after the first match was abandoned due to fog in December, the Town side showed one change from midweek, with club stalwart Lloyd Irish making his 388th appearance in goal due to Dan Lavercombe having sustained a hairline leg fracture against the Gulls.

The Peacocks were first to show with a Lloyd James free kick which Nick Grimes flicked on but too far for Cameron Evans to connect at the back post.

An open start to the game then provided Borough with a half-chance, Sam Beard breaking down the left to see his cross volleyed wide by Decarrey Sheriff.

The final stages of the half proved pivotal to the outcome of the contest. Another chance went begging for the Peacocks ten minutes before the break when a poor home pass ended with Marcus Day shooting only for it to be blocked.

Eastbourne substitute David Sesay then tried his luck from distance to pick out the side netting, but Town failed to heed the warning and found themselves trailing after 42 minutes when Sesay found space on the left to curl an excellent finish beyond Irish and into the far corner.

The one meaningful effort from the Peacocks in the second half came nine minutes from time via Jarvis whose powerful strike appeared destined for the top corner until Foulkes palmed away at the expense of a corner.

However, the latter stages of the game belonged to the Sussex outfit. Well-travelled striker and new signing for Borough Matt Green backheeled wide from Sesay’s cross before Bamba missed a sitter.

That might have proved costly during five minutes of added time but despite some intent towards the home goal the Peacocks were unable to carve out anything and Borough rubbed it in by adding a second goal three minutes into stoppage.

Clarke’s clearance found Bamba and he made amends, scorching away from halfway into the area where he slotted home past Irish to secure his side’s seventh point from nine.

Defeat for the Peacocks dropped them down to 20th and they will need to show much more in the final dozen games of the season to ensure they retain their National League membership.