Sidley in trouble as Town turn on style

The Blues were undone by a lightning start from their near neighbours who surged into a two-goal lead inside the opening half hour.

Sidley did rally either side of half time but the decision to rule out a Jordan Wood effort pretty much sealed their fate.

"Eastbourne were excellent but we were poor," said Sidley joint manager Andy Laskey. "Only two players from our side emerged from the match with any credit and they were Craig Willard and Stuart Weston. I thought the others were below par."

Sidley went into the match on something of a high having picked up 12 points out of a possible 15 to drag themselves away from the relegation zone, but the absence of experienced trio Jimmy Watson (thigh strain), Keith Miles (thigh strain) and Owen Ball (suspension), plus leading scorer Peter Baker meant they faced a daunting prospect in a Town side which included former Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion schemer John Piercy.

The home side didn't help matters though by conceding two identical goals from dead ball situations, both delivered into the danger zone by Piercy and finished off by headers from Tom Rowe on 17 minutes and Steve Dallaway in the 26th minute.

Sidley changed the team around before half time which included pushing Kevin Rose up from defence in an effort to retain the ball in the final third. The tinkering seemed to work and they might have had a penalty when Rose was bundled over in the Town box.

Any hope they had of getting back into the match all but ended on the hour when Wood had an effort ruled out for a foul on goalkeeper Greg Nessling, although Laskey said: "None of our players were within a yard of the goalkeeper, he clattered into his own player!"

To add insult to injury, Town immediately went up the other end to add a third through Piercy.

Graham Morris did pull a goal back from the penalty spot midway through the half after Wood had been sliced down, but Town had the final word just three minutes later when Luke Denton applied the finishing touch to a slick move which cut open the Sidley defence.