Eastbourne Borough suffered their first defeat in eight games after a 3-1 defeat away at fellow title rivals Dorking Wanderers.

Jimmy Muitt had put Dorking in front early on at Meadowbank – before the hosts went down to ten men after George Francomb saw red.

But despite that, it was Dorking who doubled their lead in first half stoppage time through a Jason Prior penalty.

Borough were better after the break, and Courtney Clarke’s superb strike halved the deficit eight minutes into the second half.

However, Brennan Camp bundled home late on to condemn Borough to only their third National League South defeat in the last 22 outings.

Murray after tough Dorking loss

For the third game in a row, Adam Murray named an unchanged starting eleven – with the only two changes coming on the bench with Alfie Pavey and David Sesay replacing Michael Klass and John Shamalo.

After a balanced first few minutes, it was Dorking who drew first blood after ten minutes. Prior sent a hopeful ball forwards and the ball held up to allow Muitt to get there before Joe Wright could claim it inside the area and he poked the ball past the keeper from just outside the area.

With Borough a goal down, they were given cause for optimism when the hosts were reduced to ten men. George Alexander broke forwards to run onto a long ball and Francomb was judged to have denied a goalscoring opportunity having tripped the Sports forward to be sent off by referee Declan Brown.

The Sports failed to make the most of their numerical advantage, however, with the hosts restricting Borough’s play and causing Murray’s side problems themselves.

With half time approaching, Kai Innocent did well to find Courtney Clarke on the left. With space to drive inside, he did just that before seeing his shot go just wide of the far post.

Dominic Odusanya could then only hit a free-kick into the wall from a promising position, before Wright was alert to save well from Camp after the substitute was first to a second ball in the penalty area.

However, in first half stoppage time Dorking were given the chance to double their lead. Tony Craig went down in the area after a coming together with Jason Adigun and referee Brown pointed to the spot. Prior stepped up, and fired low past Wright.

Murray made two changes at the break – with Brad Barry and Moussa Diarra coming on – and the Sports looked to get on the front foot straight from the restart.

Yahaya Bamba skewed an effort wide of the front post from the right, before the deficit was halved in some style on 53 minutes.

Ollie Kensdale found the feet of Courtney Clarke on the right hand side, and he was afforded room to take the shot on 25 yards out – and the result didn’t disappoint, with the ball flying beyond Harrison Foulkes and into the bottom corner.

Adigun then floated a corner in and picked out the towering Diarra, but his downward header was well held by former Borough keeper Foulkes.

As time ticked on, the hosts managed the clock well and frustrated the Sports, limiting their opportunities in creating any sort of momentum.

However, with nine minutes to go, it was the hosts who dealt a sucker punch. Camp took advantage of the Sports failing to clear their lines and managed to find room to beat Wright at his near post with a finish from inside ten yards.

Not the result, or performance, the Sports would have hoped for – but with five games to go they can’t afford heads to drop with a home game against Weymouth next weekend.