It was a case of déjà vu for Eastbourne Borough as they were made to settle for a point at The ReachTV Stadium.

Borough were on top throughout, and had the best of the chances against Salisbury but some fine stops from Dan Lincoln denied the hosts a deserved breakthrough.

However, the point preserves the Sports’ unbeaten home league record, but leaves them outside the top seven on goal difference as we reach the halfway mark of the National League South season.

Adam Murray named an unchanged starting eleven to that which saw off Weston-super-Mare on the weekend, with Jack Clarke once again on the bench following his return from injury and Yahaya Bamba also amongst the substitutes after serving a suspension.

It was Salisbury who had the first effort of the afternoon, with Joe Wright saving low to his left to deny Callum Watts, before the Sports had efforts themselves with Brayden Johnson and then Alfie Pavey going close – the latter not getting enough on his shot to really test Lincoln after a great ball in from Michael Klass.

The visitors then had what would prove to be their best chance of the contest on 16 minutes. Noah Coppin got down the left hand side and his cross picked out Ronan Silva, but he headed wide when well placed at the far post.

As the half wore on, Borough’s pressure increased. Camron Gbadebo – making his home debut – lifted the ball forwards and picked out Pavey, who brought it down well but Lincoln was on hand to claw away his goal-bound effort.

The Whites’ goalkeeper was then off his line well to save at the feet of George Alexander from a tight angle, before space opened up for Klass to get a shot away after Pavey nodded a ball into his path, but the midfielder couldn’t connect.

Pierce Bird’s cross then picked out Pavey, and he headed it across to the feet of Alexander, but he couldn’t get a clean shot away as the half neared its end. The duo linked up again in stoppage time, but the latter had his shot from close range blocked by Sido Jombati.

The Sports continued to press forwards after the break, and only a spectacular save from Lincoln denied Pavey from breaking the deadlock with a swerving effort 30 yards out.

Pavey was proving to be a thorn in the Salisbury defence, seeing his looping header go just over onto the roof of the net after good work from Courtney Clarke, before Borough went even closer on the hour mark.

Johnson threaded the ball through to Klass on the edge of the area, and he skipped past the challenge of two defenders before looking set to fire past Lincoln, who could only stand and watch as the ball cannoned back off the post.

Bamba replaced Johnson with 25 minutes to go and almost had an instant impact. His deflected shot looped into the path of Alexander, but he couldn’t turn the ball on target before the winger showed great feet to break into the area, but had his low drive turned around the post by the diving Lincoln.

Jack Clarke came on for his first minutes of the season with twelve minutes to go as the Sports kept pushing forwards, but the Salisbury defence sat back and frustrated the home crowd who had to settle for one point where on another day Borough could’ve had all three.