Borough can go all the way this time

10:24am Monday 5th May 2008

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Borough 3 Braintree 0.

Manager Garry Wilson is confident Eastbourne Borough will not let their second promotion play-off chance slip away.

Borough secured their place in Thursday's Blue Square south final at Ebbsfleet with a convincing 5-0 aggregate win over Braintree.

They face Hampton and Richmond and will be marginal favourites having taken four points from the Middlesex club this season and finished a place above them in the table.

It is the second time in four seasons the Priory Lane club have been within 90 minutes of clinching a place in non-league's top flight for the first time.

They lost 2-1 against Altrincham at Stoke in the inaugural north-south final, before the play-off system was restructured.

By their own admission, Borough suffered stage-fright on that sunny day in the Potteries and failed to perform anywhere near their best.

Wilson insists that will not happen again because his current side are in better shape than the class of 2005.

He said: "The last time we were just delighted to be there but now we want it badly. I must admit the last time we didn't want it as badly as we do now. We would have taken it then but we were not quite as ready as we are now.

"We have a lot more experience, we have more players who have played at a higher level and are more consistent.

"When I look back, we had players who were brilliant one week and not the next. Now we have people like (Paul) Armstrong and (Neil) Jenkins who you know what you're going to get every week."

Wilson believes the fact the game is being played at Ebbsfleet's antiquated Stonebridge Road ground will also help his side.

He added: "Someone asked if I would like to have played at Wembley and I said it was the last place I wanted it to be.

"If you play at somewhere like that the focus goes from playing and doing the business, everyone is instead looking at the nice dressing rooms and the stands.

"Ebbsfleet suits us because we have played there before, there is nothing to look at and we can get on with the job."

Borough booked their trip to Kent largely thanks to the good form of striker Allan Tait.

The former Tottenham trainee laid the foundations for victory with two goals in a 2-0 first leg win last Tuesday.

He then netted the crucial first goal on Saturday to effectively kill off the tie.

Tait played in the Blue Square premier division at Crawley, alongside Borough team mates Jenkins and Armstrong, and Canvey Island and believes his current side are good enough to make the step-up.

He said: "We have players who have played there before so we know what the prize is. Myself and the rest of the lads would all love to play in the Conference and we have the quality and experience to get there.

"If we play the way we are capable then we can beat anyone so we just have to make sure we are at our best on Thursday."

Tait scored his third goal of the tie four minutes before half-time with Borough's first real effort on target.

He was found in space by a superb cross-field pass from Darren Budd and rifled past keeper Nick Morgan from an angle.

Borough controlled the game from then on and could have won by an even bigger margin had Tait not had two second-half efforts saved by Morgan.

Braintree had a staggering nine players out injured and were forced to hand youth team striker Chris Smith his first senior appearance.

They severely lacked any sort of firepower as a result and, apart from a good early chance from Eugene Ofori, never really looked likely to get back in the tie.

Tait had left the pitch to an ovation from the crowd when Borough wrapped up a comfortable victory in the dying minutes.

His replacement, Nathan Crabb, converted from close range in the last minute after Matt Smart nodded a corner across goal. Andy Atkin, who led the line superbly again, then powered a towering header into the bottom corner in injury time from the impressive Matt Crabb's cross.

Wilson said: "It was very pleasing all three strikers scored and that we played well overall.

"But we have to remember that we haven't won anything yet and there is still a very big game to get past before anyone can start celebrating."

Eastbourne: Hook, Austin, Baker, Pullan (Lovett 71), Jenkins, Harding, Armstrong, Budd (Smart 77), M. Crabb, Atkin, Tait (N. Crabb 76).

Subs not used: Ballard, Lightwood.

Braintree: Morgan, Burgess, Hawes, Chenery, Moran, Good (Overall 60), Smith (Riddle 46), Shinn, Ofori, Sullivan, Deane (Archer 85).

Subs not used: Cousins, Jones.

Referee: S. Burt.

Attendance: 1,802.

Man-of-the-match: Allan Tait.

Can Borough go all the way and triumph in the final on Thursday?