Eastbourne Borough concluded their pre-season campaign with a draw against Hashtag United at The ReachTV Stadium.

The Sports dominated the first half, but without any luck in front of goal before Pemi Aderoju headed home the opening goal on 51 minutes.

However, the visitors then turned the game on its head with two goals in eleven minutes, before Victor Akinwale’s late effort put Borough back on level terms.

Buoyed on by a bumper pre-season crowd, Matt Gray’s side were on the front foot early on. Joey Phuthi did well to beat two defenders on the right before cutting the ball across to Aderoju, but the striker’s first-time strike went just wide.

After his brace at Dulwich on Tuesday, Aderoju was again causing problems – and he was denied a run at goal but only by being pulled back by Hashtag captain Harry Haysom after blocking his ball forwards – with the defender shown yellow for his crime.

Phuthi and Aderoju were linking up well on the right – with the latter shooting just off target on the turn after another low ball in from Phuthi.

The visitors then threatened for the first time midway through the half when Jamie Searle tipped Misha Djemaili’s effort over the bar, before Aderoju went close again at the other end, shooting just wide when aiming for the far corner after good work from Jes Uchegbulam.

Borough finally got the breakthrough they deserved six minutes after the break. Kai Innocent’s initial corner was headed away, but the ball came back into the box and Aderoju got across his marker to send a diving header beyond Jack Giddens and in off the far post.

The pressure didn’t stop there, however. A great challenge from PK Humble denied George Alexander a shot on goal twelve yards out, before Uchegbulam did well to find Innocent, but no one in red could turn his low ball across the six-yard box into the net.

Akinwale and a Trialist were introduced on the hour mark – and the Trialist almost made an instant impact, linking up well with Alexander but only to have a good sliding challenge deny him a sight of goal inside the area.

However, the visitors drew level on 65 minutes. Searle parried away an initial effort from inside the area before Borough failed to clear the loose ball, and Matt Wooldridge capitalised to fire in off the bar.

And with 14 minutes to go, the game had turned completely on its head. A low ball through was latched onto by Keegan Caull, who poked it low past Searle.

Borough looked to get back on level terms late on, with a Trialist seeing a great solo run eventually halted at the expense of a corner, before the hosts made it 2-2 with two minutes to go.

Aderoju did well to win a header in midfield and set Trialist away down the left, and he played a great ball through to Akinwale who took the ball around the keeper before slotting beyond the reach of the defender on the line.

Borough’s pre-season campaign is now complete – and we look ahead to getting our National League South season started in seven days time.