Eastbourne Borough squandered a golden opportunity to end their long wait for a win at Priory Lane last night.

Liam Enver-Marum had given Borough the lead against Histon three minutes before the interval and they looked odds-on to record their first victory in nine league games when they were awarded a dubious penalty a minute after the restart.

But Paul Armstrong’s spot-kick was saved by Danny Naisbitt and that proved to be the turning point, with Bradley Hudson-Odoi grabbing the equaliser in the 63rd minute.

Boss Garry Wilson said: “It was definitely two points dropped. When we have had a penalty and the opportunities we had we have definitely let the game slip out of our hands.

“They only had one real chance and we were the better side until the penalty miss. If we had scored then I think we would have relaxed and gone on to win comfortably.

“The last four or five games we have felt we could have won each one of them so we are not far off. We just need to start turning draws into wins.”

Borough had produced possibly their worst performance of the season in going down 2-0 to ten-man Histon in September.

That was arguably where it all began to go wrong for Borough while Histon had been moving in the other direction in the table but there was not much to choose between the two sides in a poor first half.

The visitors, helped by a strong wind, started the better and Danny Knowles twice had to be alert to save long-range efforts from Bradley Hudson-Odoi.

Borough slowly came into the match with Enver-Marum following up his impressive display at Mansfield by causing the Histon defence problems.

The striker beat Naisbitt to a lofted ball from Kayne McLaggon in the 18th minute but the Histon goalkeeper recovered well to save his shot.

Nine minutes later Gareth Gwillim came to Histon’s rescue when he blocked Enver-Marum’s effort on the turn following a penetrating run from Joe Benjamin.

The pair’s flourishing partnership was evident again when they combined to break the deadlock three minutes before the interval.

Enver-Marum played the ball down the right for Benjamin who beat Gwillim for pace and then rolled the ball into the path of his strike partner to fire a low shot past Naisbitt from 12 yards.

Borough had the wind at their backs in the second half and should have doubled their lead within a minute of the restart.

The home side have had plenty of reason to moan about referees this season but they were more than a little fortunate to be awarded a penalty when Benjamin stumbled over Adam Bygrave’s leg.

Naisbitt ensured justice was done though as he guessed right and saved Paul Armstrong’s poorly placed spot-kick.

If that had gone in you would have backed Borough to go on to win comfortably but instead Histon were level seven minutes later.

Danny Brown gave the ball away carelessly which allowed Lanre Oyebanjo to get to the byline and cross for Hudson-Odoi to place a shot inside the far post.

The goal sucked the belief out of Borough and their night was made worse when substitute James Fraser became the fourth person sent off in five games for a crude challenge on Neil Andrews three minutes into injury time.

Eastbourne: Knowles 6, Baker 7, Pullan 7, Austin 7, Brown 6, McLaggon 6 (Taylor, 82), Armstrong 6, Weatherstone 7, M Crabb 6 (Fraser, 78), Enver-Marum 8, Benjamin 8. Subs not used: Jordan, Johnson, Atkin.

Booked: Weatherstone.

Sent off: Fraser.

Histon: Naisbitt, Oyebanjo, Langston, Bygrave, Gwillim, Barker, Kennedy, Tann (Andrews, 86), Knight-Percival, Hudson-Odoi, Tidswell (Frew, 53). Subs not used: Long, Welch, Crook.

Booked: Bygrave.

Referee: Chris Powell (Dorset) Attendance: 703.

Man-of-the-match: Joe Benjamin.