Eastbourne Borough suffered their first defeat of the campaign after a night to forget at Aveley.

Goals either side of the break saw the Sports condemned to a 2-0 loss at Parkside.

The loss in Essex is the first Borough have suffered since Mark Beard took charge, and they will be looking for a response going into the weekend.

Borough made six changes to the starting line-up that drew at Farnborough two days prior. In came Scott Leslie, Dan Quick, Stefan Vukoje, Yaser Kasim, Imran Uche and Alfie Bridgman, with Jack Clarke, Jack Paxman and Decarrey Sheriff among the substitutes.

After back-to-back promotions, Aveley were always going to provide tough opposition and the game started with chances few and far between.

Freddie Carter had half a chance inside six yards, but under pressure and off balance he was unable to test Jonathan North after Uche won the initial header from a corner.

It was the hosts who then went close, as John Benton fired in a free-kick from the left hand side and Ben Dudzinski did well to be alert and turn the ball onto the post.

Kenny Alieru then fired wide for Aveley, before the Sports had a big chance after half an hour. Bridgman did well to work his way down the right hand side before crossing in and picking out Billy Vigar, but he couldn’t direct his header on target.

However, just before the break it was Aveley who broke the deadlock.

A ball forward down the right was headed away but only as far as Benton 25 yards out, who took a touch to control it before rifling beyond the grasp of a full stretched Dudzinski and into the top corner.

The Sports made all three substitutions before the hour mark in a bid to get back on level terms, but instead they fell further behind after 62 minutes.

A corner in from the left was flicked on by Harry Gibbs and Matt Rush was unmarked at the far post to volley beyond Dudzinski.

Borough failed to really test the home defence in their bid to get back into the game. Instead, good goalkeeping from Dudzinski kept the score at just two after Aileru broke through.

As time wore on, the Sports’ attacking intent grew but without really creating a clear cut chance. Vukoje had an effort saved after he was played through by Paxman, before a great solo run from Bridgman culminated in a low shot straight at North.

Ultimately it was just one of those nights for Borough, who will look for a positive response in training this week before welcoming Bath City to Priory Lane on Saturday.