MATCH PREVIEW: Chippenham Town vs Eastbourne Borough | National League South | Saturday 9th November 2024

Harry Minton previews the visit of Eastbourne Borough.

This weekend sees more National League South action as our Bluebirds welcome top of the league Eastbourne Borough to Hardenhuish Park.

The Sports are flying as of late with three wins from their last three, and also eleven goals scored across those games as well, most recently recording a 4-1 victory at home to Welling United. The amount of goals they have scored so far has been mostly down to George Alexander, who is the second top goalscorer in the National League South so far this year with nine goals, only Tyler Harvey of Truro City has more with ten.

As much as this will be a tough game for Gary Horgan’s side, they should have a little bit of confidence with them after two decent results.

Last weekend they won very convincingly away at Welling by four goals to nil and then in midweek they were denied all three points after a late equaliser at Truro City, who sit second in the league.

And also, the boys in blue do have a good record when it comes to playing Eastbourne at home, with only one defeat coming against the Sports at Hardenhuish Park in the last five meetings.

The last time the two sides met in Wiltshire was in November of last year and that ended in an entertaining 4-2 victory to the home side.

A Caine Bradbury brace (including a stunning free kick), a Matt McClure penalty and a late goal from Craig Fasanmade sealed the points for Chippenham that day.

Fletcher Holman and Leon’s Gravata got the consolations for Eastbourne, the latter being the only player in this fixture to have feature for both sides. The left winger came through the Eastbourne academy and was promoted to the first team in 2020. He would go on to score thirteen goals in an Eastbourne shirt across nearly four years, before signing for National League side York City in March of this year.

With limited game for The Minstermen so far, he joined us on a half season loan in September where he has been nothing short of sensational for us so far. Since scoring on his debut against Weston Super Mare, Gravata has scored four goals and registered an assist for the Bluebirds in all competitions, certainly a player to keep your eye on for this match.

It’s going to be a tricky game against top of the league Eastbourne, however the boys in blue have shown how clinical they can be in their last couple matches, hopefully they can take that into this game on the weekend.

Come on you Bluebirds!!!