Both Eastbourne Borough and Hampton & Richmond Borough will be looking to return to winning ways after suffering defeats at the weekend.

Whilst the Sports suffered a late set-back at Torquay United, Alan Julian’s side were beaten 3-1 at home to Truro City in the National League South.

It was the Beavers’ first home defeat since October, with Alan Julian’s side closing the gap on the top eight in recent weeks.

However, that gap stands at eight points after losing to the Cornwall side, whilst Borough slip to sixth in wake of their battling defeat at Plainmoor.

The Manager

A hugely experienced goalkeeper, Alan Julian racked up over 450 career appearances before joining Hampton, including almost a hundred in the Football League.  

After starting out aged nine with his local league club, Brentford, the Ashford-based ‘keeper went on to win international honours with Northern Ireland. He represented his country at Under 18, 19 and 21 level, with a clean sheet on his Under 21 debut against Switzerland. ‘Jules’ has won a number of titles in his career, including the FA Trophy and the Conference South, and set a Conference record eight clean sheets in a row with Stevenage. 

Getting him on board in autumn 2020 represented a major signing for the Beavers, as he brings fantastic organisational skills alongside his undoubted shot stopping ability. After retiring after injury, Alan was announced as Hampton’s new manager on 13th May 2024.

Danger Man

Jake Gray started his career with Crystal Palace aged sixteen, before going out on loan to Cheltenham and Hartlepool. Whilst at Palace, Gray made the Premier League bench on four occasions before racking up over a hundred EFL appearances at Yeovil, Hartlepool and Luton.

The Aylesbury-born midfielder moved to Woking, before joining the Beavers on loan where he made 18 appearances, scoring three. In August 2020, Gray signed permanently for Hampton, and was 2023’s Player’s Player of the Year. In January 2024, Jake registered his 150th appearance for the Beavers, and finished 2023/24 with five goals and seven assists from 42 league appearances.

Head to Head

The Beavers have won four of the last five meetings between the two teams, including a 3-1 win at The Beveree earlier this season.

George Alexander had put the Sports ahead in the capital back in October, but three goals in a thirteen minute spell at the start of the second half took the game away from the visitors.

Jack Taylor, Mauro Vilhete and Jake Gray got the goals as Hampton prevailed. Beavers fans will also have fond memories of visiting East Sussex, having won 5-0 here on the opening day of the 2021/22 season. However, Billy Vigar headed home to win 1-0 on the opening day of last campaign.