Garry Wilson believes Eastbourne Borough's ambitions could hinge on the form and fitness of Matt Crabb this season.

Borough were favourites to be fighting relegation at the start of the campaign but took their tally to nine points from four games with a comfortable win over Sutton last night.

Crabb scored twice in the opening day win against Yeading but missed the next two matches with a shoulder injury. The diminutive winger returned with a bang at Priory Lane last night as he sprinkled a little stardust on to a thoroughly professional Borough performance.

Wilson's side were always in control but it was Crabb who twice unlocked the Sutton defence to set up goals for Matt Smart and skipper Paul Armstrong.

Wilson said: "Matt has been at the club for a long time now and we have always known what he is capable of but he looked really hungry this year.

"He missed a lot of football through injury last season so maybe that has something to do with it because he has started the season really well.

"His confidence is high after scoring twice in the first game and he showed what a difference he can make again tonight.

"It was not a a one man show though because I thought everyone performed well.

"We have made a good start but we are not going to get carried away because it is still early days. We have a good bunch of players and there is a good feeling in training that we could do well this season."

Wilson had promised Borough would play a more expansive style of football this season. The Priory Lane faithful were given the perfect example of what he meant midway through the first half.

All the pieces of the new look Borough jigsaw seemed to fall into place as three of Wilson's summer signings combined for what would have been a goal of the season contender.

Crabb showed great skill inside his own half before finding Scott Ramsay who spread the ball the width of the pitch to Jay Lovett. The former Lewes man's cross looked too deep but Czech striker Victor Dolista, making his full debut, rose highest to head down for Paul Armstrong only for him to blaze the shot wastefully wide.

Borough failed to match those heady heights for the rest of the half but they did finally make the breakthrough just before the interval.

It was no surprise that the livewire Crabb was at the heart of it as he latched on to Lovett's pass and although his initial shot was blocked by goalkeeper Phil Wilson he kept his composure to cross for Smart to roll into the empty net.

Pat Harding who replaced the limping Dolista at the break saw little of the ball in the early stages of the second half as Borough controlled the match without really threatening.

With the match slipping away Sutton threw caution to the wind by making a double substitution on the hour but the gamble backfired as Borough doubled their lead with 16 minutes to go.

Again Crabb was the architect as he skipped past his man down the left flank before delivering an inch perfect cross which Armstrong gratefully volleyed home from six yards for his first goal since joining from Crawley in the summer.

Ramsay almost put the icing on the cake in the 85th minute when he curled a shot narrowly wide after cutting in purposefully from the right wing.

Eastbourne Borough: Hook, Baker, Jenkins, Smart (sub Keehan 86), Dohnal, Pullan, Lovett, Armstrong, Ramsay, Dolista (sub Harding 46), Crabb. Subs not used: Hemsley, Newman, McArthur.

Sutton Utd: Wilson, Palmer, Gonsalves, Scarborough, Lampton, Fear, Gray, Crockford (sub Gordon 60), Gibbs (sub Graham 75), Douglas (sub Akuamoah 60), Johnson. Sub not used: Maan.

Referee: A Parker (England).

Attendance: 637.

Man-of-the-match: Matt Crabb.