Little Common end Eastbourne Town's perfect SCFL start

Manager Russell Eldridge was left with a selection headache before the match with four players missing through injury and a further two unavailable, Liam Ward came in for his first start of the campaign and Sammy Bunn was welcomed back into the starting eleven.

Common’s evening soon got worse when the influential Sam Cruttwell hobbled off injured after ten minutes causing another shuffle round in the Common defence. In what was an even opening quarter, neither keeper was really called into action, Sam Ellis saw an effort fizz across the goal for Common with Matt Cruttwell comfortably dealing with a tame header at the other end.

Aaron Hopkinson saw an effort flash wide of the post for the hosts but the match remained goalless at the interval. The match sparked into life in the second half with Town taking the lead within a minute of the restart, a Common attack broke down on the edge of the Town area and a swift break saw Gary Ingram’s ball across the box met by James Hull at the back post.

Town enjoyed their best spell of the match but were unable to force a second as Common battled their way back into the match. Jack McLean was once again Common’s outlet and proved a constant threat on the Common left despite being on the end of some questionable challenges.

The equaliser arrived in the 60th minute when Jamie Bunn saw his free kick deflected onto the post but Jamie Crone was on hand to knock home the rebound. Common were then reduced to ten men when Sammy Bunn’s protestations following another foul saw him sin binned for ten minutes.

Despite being a player down, it was Common who took the lead in the 77th minute when McLean was released down the left and he drove towards goal before coolly slotting the ball past the home keeper. Both teams were then reduced to ten men in the aftermath of the goal with Lewis Parsons being dismissed for an off the ball incident for Common before Hopkinson was given his marching orders for retaliation.

Common were once again forced to reshuffle their back four but dealt with the threat of the Town attack with relative ease. The equaliser did arrive five minutes from time and despite Fin Jack blocking the initial effort, Sam Cole swept home the rebound to level the scores. It was Common who enjoyed more possession in the dying minutes and they were quite happy to keep the ball and claim a hard earned point.

Little Common: M Cruttwell, Harris, Parsons, J Bunn, S Cruttwell (Brown), Eldridge, Ellis, Ward (Hole) Crone, S Bunn (Jack), McLean.