Eastbourne Borough were dealt another cruel blow last night after a controversial late penalty denied them their first win in ten league games.

Jamie Taylor’s early strike looked to have sealed all three points for the visitors at Church Road only for referee Andy Bennett to penalise Gary Elphick for handball in the box in injury time.

Manager Garry Wilson was sent to the stands for protesting against the decision and Hayes' Steve Basham stuck the knife in by blasting home from the spot.

Wilson said: “It’s been the story of our season. Our goalkeeper has not had a save to make all night and then with two minutes to go a decision like that goes against us.

“Gary got a massive shove in the back with two hands and that is why he fell forward and his arm hit the ball. I asked the referee to talk to the linesman and he sent me to the stands.

“The boys are absolutely gutted because everything seems to be going against us but we’ll just have to dust ourselves down and go again.”

Wilson hinted he would tweak his line-up following the disappointing peformance at Chester on Saturday where Borough were trailing 3-2 when the match was abandoned.

His solution was to set Borough out in a 4-5-1 formation with Matt Crabb taking up the unusual position in the centre of midfield and Joe Benjamin and Taylor operating out wide.

It may have initially appeared a negative tactic but when Borough had the ball it switched to something more like 4-2-1-3 with Benjamin and Taylor getting forward and Crabb playing just behind Liam Enver-Marum.

The plan worked a treat in the ninth minute when Benjamin and Taylor linked up to break the deadlock.

Benjamin curled a clever ball over the top with the outside of his boot and Taylor bent his run to beat the offside trap and ran on to fire a first-time shot past Simon Overland from 12 yards.

It was Taylor’s first league goal for almost three months and there was no doubt Borough deserved their lead after making a bright start.

The visitors were unable to carve open any more opportunities in the first half though and the home side gradually came back into the game.

Craig Watkins was proving a real handful on his home debut but the Borough defence were still able to limit Hayes to only a handful of half chances before the break.

Sean Canham saw a header saved by Danny Knowles from Watkins’ cross and then had a shot blocked by Elphick after Watkins’ backheel had set him up.

Borough should have got the cushion of a second goal when they squandered two good chances in the space of a minute.

Benjamin’s powerful shot was turned around a post by Overland and from the resulting corner Taylor put a header over the bar when unmarked at the far post.

Liam Enver-Marum had an even better chance in the 61st minute but he took far too long to pull the trigger when through one on one and allowed a defender to get back and block.

It did not look like it would matter as Borough seemed to be heading for their first clean sheet since early September until Bennett intervened.

The referee had just waved away tame appeals for a penalty for a push on Basham but then penalised Elphick for handball as he tried to clear a corner even though he was clearly pushed.

Basham, who scored a hat-trick against Borough for Oxford United to end their FA Cup dream in 2005, made no mistake from the spot.

Hayes: Overland, Mulley, Cadmore, Ruby, Green, James (sub Fitzgerald, 82), M Canham, Marwa, Binns, S Canham (sub Basham, 63), Watkins. Subs not used: El-Ebd, Little, Baker.

Eastbourne: Knowles 6, Baker 7, Elphick 7, Austin 7, Brown 7, Taylor 7, Armstrong 6, Weatherstone 7 (sub Johnson, 57), M Crabb 6, Benjamin 7, Enver-Marum 6. Subs not used: Jordan, Atkin, Rowe, McLaggon.

Booked: Brown.

Referee: Andy Bennett (Devon).

Attendance: 349.

Man-of-the-match: Darren Baker.