EASTBOURNE Borough's 14-match unbeaten run came to an end at Sutton United on Saturday - but they didn't relinquish it without a fight.
In fact after the dust had settled on a frenetic, end-to-end encounter at a sweltering Gander Green Lane,
Borough could be forgiven for wondering how they didn't come away with at least a point.
But they were left to rue a plethora of missed chances and poor defending which allowed Sutton to take control of the game with two goals in three first-half minutes.
Borough seemed neither stifled by the heat nor the fact they were playing their fourth game in a week and after United's Ross Gaynor had flashed an eighth minute shot wide, began to dominate proceedings.
They created a number of chances in the opening 25 minutes but squandered them all. On 13 minutes, Allan Tait (pictured above) latched on to a misjudged clearance and fired a shot from a wide angle that flew across the face of goal.
Adam Wilde should've opened his Borough account on 17 minutes but put a volley from inside the area past the angle of post and bar and Pat Harding rolled an effort inches wide of the far post moments later.
But you've got to take your chances when they come and Borough were made to pay for their profligacy when Sutton stunned them with two goals inside three minutes midway through the first half.
Former Barnet and Farnborough frontman Warren McBean was the architect of both goals, scoring the first and setting up the second.
On 26 minutes he chased and won a long ball over the top before turning his man and finishing clinically past Lee Hook - the 'keeper playing through the pain of a shoulder injury on his 200th consecutive game for Borough.
A couple of minutes later and their lead was doubled. Hook was slow to react to a ball inside the six-yard box and McBean beat him to it before pulling it back for Bashiru Alimi to turn home.
Shellshocked, Borough weren't the same cohesive unit they had been prior to the two goals and McBean forced Hook into a save from a powerful header shortly before the break.
Borough regrouped and halved the deficit early on, Tait touching home a corner from close range for his eighth goal in nine games.
This gave Eastbourne renewed vigour and they pressed forward for an equaliser, only to find Sutton 'keeper Phil Wilson in fine form. Harding was denied by Wilson's sprawling legs and the U's 'keeper also made a fine block at the end of an almighty penalty area scramble in which Tait and Harding both had a couple of efforts blocked by the scrambling Sutton defence.
At the other end,
Matt Gray sent a fierce drive narrowly over the bar and young striker Jason Henry squandered a couple of one-on-ones as Sutton looked threatening on the break.
The killer goal arrived 12 minutes from time when John Scarborough, a former Borough defender, thundered home a header from a corner to clinch the match against his old club.
The U's were never really troubled after that although Borough continued to push forward in a fruitless search for a goal that may, or may not, have altered things.
Their incredible 14 match unbeaten run, which stretched back to January and was their best in the league for four seasons, ends here and their exhausting run-in sees them travel to Newport County on Wednesday (April 18th).
Sutton end unbeaten run
Tait's goal in vain as Borough rue missed chances
