A contentious last minute strike from Sam Crabb denied the Hornets a second successive win in a keenly contested meeting at Worthing's Woodside Road. With his side trailing 2-1 to a brace of goals from Pat Harding, the Town striker took aim from 25 yards and arrowed in a shot that struck the frame of Kieron Thorp's goal before crashing back into play, only for the linesman to rule that the ball had crossed the line. The validity of the goal may have been in dispute but there was no question that Eastbourne deserved a share of the spoils after an energetic display that gave John Maggs' men a combative test on a warm summer's evening on the south coast.

Having eased past Burgess Hill at the weekend, any thoughts that the Hillians' Division One South rivals would be such comfortable opposition were soon dispelled during an evenly contested first half in which neither side was able to find a breakthrough. Sloppy play from Steve Davies gave Barr the first clear opening of the night but his shot was too high and Sam Tucknott chose the wrong option when he and Harding had a two on one break, the flying winger electing to shoot when his team mate looked better placed and the ball flew harmlessly past the upright.

Brad Manton shrugged off the challenge of Davies and Jay Lovett to turn and shoot over the top before Lovett himself broke through three tackles on the edge of the Eastbourne penalty area to drill a shot across the face of goal and out for a goal-kick. Ben Andrews drew opposing goalkeeper Sam Reed into his first save of the night, just before the half hour, when a short corner routine between Harding and Tucknott saw the former Bognor man clip in a good cross that the new Horsham captain headed goalwards but Reed made a good claim beneath his crossbar.

Just minutes later, a crossfield ball from Fraser clipped the heels of Cadnam to send Harding racing in on goal but last year's leading scorer dragged his shot across goal, just ahead of the inrushing Callum Murray. Paul Kennett was adding plenty of the steel to the Horsham midfield and one particularly firm challenge on Altendale enabled the players from both sides to take on water and Kennett was in the thick of the action when play resumed, chasing a long ball deep in the Eastbourne half and setting up Lovett who delivered an inviting cross to the far post where Tucknott hit a firm shot that was saved well by Reed at his near post. Lovett had the game's last chance of the half when his header was saved comfortably by the Eastbourne custodian to leave the match goalless at the interval.

H/T Eastbourne Town 0 Horsham 0

Maggs introduced Dean Wright, Adam Hutchings and Jamal King during the interval but wholesale changes from Eastbourne after the break meant fresh legs throughout the side and, led by the tricky Medi Koroma, they took the lead on 51 minutes. Koroma should have given his side the lead on 49 minutes when he was put through on goal only to shoot tamely at Thorp but he quickly made amends, cleverly converting Crabb's low cross at the near post to put Danny Bloor's side ahead.

Horsham's teenage striker replaced Tucknott, just before the hour, and he had barely touched the ball before he was joining his teammates in celebration of an equalising goal when Wright got up well to flick on Thorp's long clearance and Harding produced a cool finish over the goalkeeper to make it 1-1.

Harding returned the favour in Horsham's next attack, sending Wright clear, but Reed stood up well to narrow the angle and make a decent save. But Eastbourne continued to compete well and Koroma showed a neat touch to take the ball away from King but couldn't put his shot on target. Andrews took a hefty knock to the ankle and was replaced by Ian Payne for the final quarter of an hour during which Crabb curled a left-footed shot straight at Thorp in what was a wasted opportunity for Eastbourne to regain the lead.

They were made to pay with what seemed to be the winning goal, eight minutes from time, when Harding latched on to a fine pass to fire across Reed and into the far corner for his third goal in two games. 2-1, then, going in to the closing stages and it looked like another, albeit unimpressive, victory for Horsham until Crabb's late piledriver, thirty seconds from the end.