Eastbourne Borough Women suffered a second defeat of the Sussex County Women & Girls Football League Premier season after a ten-goal thriller at Whitehawk.

Having gone into half-time trailing 4-1, the Sports put up a big fight in the second half but ultimately came up short, losing 6-4 at The Enclosed Ground.

Shooting up the slope in the first half, the Sports struggled to deal with the hosts, who had made significant improvements since losing 7-0 in their first game last weekend to Eastbourne Town.

Whitehawk took the lead inside ten minutes when Sadie Ashby had a shot well saved by Shannon Uphill, but the rebound fell to Paula Aparicio who bundled in from close range.

But Borough came back, and drew level in surprising circumstances just two minutes later when Becky Simmons’ corner from the left beat the keeper at the near post and crept over the line.

However, the Hawks then continued to pin Borough back. Uphill did well to deny Abbie Burrows who saw her shot from the edge of the area tipped wide, but the Sports keeper was helpless as the hosts went back in front after 19 minutes.

Aparicio played through Saskia Taylor-Doyle and one on one with Uphill made no mistake.

And Aparicio then added to her earlier goal to make it 3-1 with 26 minutes on the clock. Running onto a good ball through from Ruby Warden, she slotted past Uphill.

Simmons continued to look dangerous for Borough, seeing a low effort saved by the feet of Beth Hill. But it was Whitehawk who added to their lead before half-time. Warden held the ball up well and back-heeled it into the path of Katie Davison and from a tight angle they beat Uphill at her near post.

Shooting downhill second half, the Sports went onto the front foot. Simmons had a shot go just over the bar before Dempsey Favell had a shot saved by Hill.

And just before the hour mark, Borough pulled a goal back. Ellouise Blackburn was on hand to fire home, staying onside in the area after good work from Erin Todd.

However, just six minutes later Whitehawk restored their three-goal cushion to make it 5-2. Warden intercepted a loose pass in defence and ran through, and although Uphill got hands to the shot, she couldn’t stop it from going in.

But back came the Sports. Phoebe Cram did well to tee up Blackburn, and from just inside the area she fired the ball into the roof of the net to make it 5-3 with over twenty minutes to go.

Lily Lemoine then found Blackburn, but in search of her hat-trick, the substitute saw her shot parried away by the keeper.

But with 14 minutes to go, Whitehawk added a sixth. Taylor-Doyle did well to cut in from the right and her low left-footed shot went beyond Uphill from just inside the area.

Borough added a fourth late on, with Cram scoring from the penalty spot to make it 6-4 after Todd’s cross was handled by a defender.

Plenty to build on, but also some positives for the Sports to take on an entertaining afternoon for the neutral.