Eastbourne Borough 0 Chatham 0: Football is a frustrating game - just ask Eastbourne Borough manager Garry Wilson.

No sooner had he shorn up his side's rocky defence which was shipping goals, than his marksmen have started firing blanks.

Borough kept their fifth clean sheet in eight games against the Kent League champions Chatham Town, but they spurned a plethora of chances to win the match.

It was the second time in two weeks that Eastbourne have failed to score, and the sides must replay in the FA Trophy first round tomorrow night.

Wilson was far from impressed. He said: "I'm not pleased, it's frustrating. We weren't firing on quite as many cylinders as we have been.

"We are getting lots of chances, we create lots. Now we need someone to pop in with 30 goals a season. We have players with that ability but we need to do it.

"It was another clean sheet and that's our fifth in eight games. One biggest problem at the start of the season was leaking silly goals.

"That seems to be sorted now. But we are still playing decent football, we are still moving the ball around.

"I thought we did enough to win the game in the first half and in the last 15 minutes. I felt the game was there for the taking. Chatham came here with one thing in their mind and they got the draw they wanted. We could never quite get the ball in the back of the net."

The opportunities for Eastbourne to score arrived as early as the first minute when Matt Allen shot straight at the visitors' goalkeeper Kevin Fewell from the edge of the area.

Defender Nathan Godden then headed over two efforts from high balls into the box and scuffed a close range effort wide.

Whenever Wilson's side did hit the target, they found Fewell in excellent form. In the 13th minute he dived low to his left to push Allen's low cross-shot round the post and then he beat out Ben Austin's shot from the edge of the box a minute later.

Chatham offered little as an attacking threat and they were limited to a couple of hopeful long-range efforts which did not trouble Dean Lightwood.

The home team's six-goal striker David Adams was unlucky not to add to his tally when he exchanged passes with Allen before hitting a 25-yard shot that flew narrowly wide of Fewell's top right hand corner.

After the break the visitors totally frustrated Borough and Wilson brought on three substitutes to liven his side up.

Among them was Clinton More and he could have broken the deadlock with a number of attempts on goal.

The home side did eventually spark into life in the final quarter of the game.

Matt Smart had a shot blocked and John Westcott glanced Daren Pearce's cross wide. Westcott then returned the compliment in injury-time with a cross for his skipper but they were to be no late fireworks at Priory Lane.

Wilson was at least pleased with his solid defence and one of the main reasons for Borough's new-found stability at the back is the acquisition of Stuart Tuck from Worthing.

The former Albion defender, who made nearly 100 appearances for the Seagulls, has slotted effortlessly into the side at left back.

And the 27-year-old says he is enjoying life at the East Sussex club.

He said: "It is nice to create the chances and we should have won. It is when we are not creating the then we have to worry. The goals will come, things can turn around very quickly."

Eastbourne Borough: Lightwood, Baker, Tuck, Smart, Austin (sub: Barham 73), Godden, Westcott, Pearce, Adams (sub: More 61), Crabb (sub: Stevens 73), Allen. Subs not used: Miles, Denton.

Chatham Town: Fewell, Binks, Tilley (sub: Cooke 76), Miles, Hearn, Dyson, Roser, Best, Kedwell, Hearn, Hulme (sub: Mitchell 65). Subs not used: Jeffrey, Rayfield, Coupland.

Man of the match: Stuart Tuck. Attendance: 341