For April 10th I'm going back 11 years to 2010 and York City's away game at Eastbourne Borough in the Conference Premier.
Firstly, I must say that I hate programmes that don't show the date of the game on the front cover. I file all my programmes in date order (except for the A4 size programmes which are also kept in date order but separately. Some clubs (mainly in the Non-League) don't even state the name of the opponents on the cover which is particularly annoying if you're searching through a box of another club's programmes looking for programmes from away games involving your own club. However, perhaps I need to stop whinging about such first world problems! In these days of pandemic we now find several clubs have either stopped producing a programme at all (they spread germs you see?) or only have an online version (try filing those with the hard copies!). Disappointingly, even England's behind closed doors fixtures at Wembley have had no programme. The big fear of programme collectors is that, once fans are allowed back into football grounds, some clubs will continue with online-only programmes. I guess we'll have to wait and see but no physical souvenir of the games that I attend is irritating and I do know one or two people (step forward Les Howells) who refuse to enter a stadium if there's no programme for sale. For small Non-League clubs, the loss of even just £5 per head at the gate certainly hurts financially. Club secretaries take note: saving money by not producing a programme is a false economy.
Actually I should probably cut Eastbourne Borough some slack. The date of this particular game does appear on the back cover but why they feel the need to do that is beyond me. I'll get over myself one day!
Eastbourne Borough have only been known by that name since 2001. Prior to that they were known as Langney Sports (the name of a district in Eastbourne) and indeed, their nickname to this day remains "The Sports". Today both York and Eastbourne are to be found one level lower than the Conference Premier: Eastbourne in National League South and York in National League North so they won't meet again on League business unless both clubs are promoted! We live in hope!
This visit to the Priory Lane Stadium was my one and only to date and, indeed, is the only time that I've seen Eastbourne Borough play. It was a vital game for both clubs with York sitting nervously in the final promotion Play-Off spot and Eastbourne hovering one place above the relegation zone. On paper it could only have been an away win surely? Well, when it comes to York, don't jump to any conclusions. They had only recently lost at home to Eastbourne so we weren't counting our Easter chicks.
Eastbourne raced into a three goal lead after about half an hour in front of a healthy attendance of 1,144 and the game was all but over. Michael Rankine did score a penalty on the stroke of half time to provide York with a glimmer of hope but it's the hope that kills you as they say. There were no further goals in the second half. In the end the result proved to be crucial for Eastbourne who stayed up in 17th place, just two points clear of Ebbsfleet United. York Manager Martin Foyle's Play-Off hopes came to fruition despite this surprise defeat as they finished the season in fifth place. Joy in beating Luton in the Play-Off Semi-Finals was soon overtaken by the disappointment of defeat at Wembley however at the hands of Oxford United.
CRB Match No. 1743
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