Another cup competition for Dynamos, this week saw them take on league and local rivals Eastbourne Galaxy. A rain free morning had everyone thinking we were all in for a nice afternoon of football.

Manager Gary Taylor had the luxury of sticking with the same team that beat the Hurst last week.

Just as the game was about to kick off, the wind that was blowing across the pitch was joined by rain, which was to get worse up until the second half.

Galaxy played the first half with the wind, and ensured they had the majority of first half possession. Dynamos were pinned back in their own half. When they did win the ball back, they were too quick to look for the killer ball and more often than not, gave away possession.

The visitors early domination saw them fail to threatened Martin Bell. One ball was squared across the box but it was behind everyone as they tried to turn on a very slippery pitch.

Richard Payne and Shaun Peters did well to keep Dynamos strong at the back, while Darren Vine and Ben Curwood worked tirelessly on either wing.

Alex Speirs and Alan Doyle threw themselves into everything in the middle of the park with Dayle Courtier and Lewis Colegate trying to use the better pitch conditions on the wings to try and create something going forward.

Neil Taylor and Stephen Fletcher were hardly involved, with very little to work off with their team-mates having to do all the leg work and struggled against the wind to get the ball up the field.

As the rain got heavier, players started to struggle to stay on their feet, and did well to avoid diving into dangerous challenges.

A goal mouth scramble in the Dynamos box looked like it was destined to end in a goal, but somehow the home side managed to clear their lines.

Eastbourne had a couple of free kicks near the Galaxy goal and a few corners, but the visitors keeper was never troubled.

Galaxy then took the lead, a corner into the Dynamos box fell to a Yellow shirt and was fired into the far corner. Galaxy went close again as the half went on but failed to increase their lead.

The home side nearly snatched a goal which would have taken them into half time level, Stephen Fletcher went racing through on goal, getting behind the defence, but his effort was well saved by the keeper and Galaxy managed to get the ball to safety.

The second half saw more rain pour down as the half started, leaving the pitch as one massive mud puddle. Nobody could have complained if the ref had decided to stop the game there and then. To be fair, the ref did well to use his common sense with people falling into challenges and someone else could easily have dished out needless yellow cards.

Both sides struggled to keep hold of the ball but Dynamos looked to exert more pressure than they had in the first half. The Galaxy defence were a lot busier than in the first half, but the home side struggled to test the keeper, with the ball just getting stuck the minute it got anywhere near the middle of the pitch.

Half chances were all Dynamos could manage, and looked like they were not going to find a way through. They did have the ball in the back of the net, a short corner was played back to Vine, who gave possession back to Dean Pugh, who got round the defender before crossing for Fletcher to head past the keeper. But the linesman had flagged for the ball going out for a goal kick, Dynamos protest that a valid goal was waved away by the referee.

The Galaxy keeper was worried when the wind helped a number of Dynamos corners curl dangerously towards goal, and he had to palm the ball over his bar.

Galaxy almost put the game to bed, they beat the Dynamos offside trap with the home side quite high up the pitch and they struggled to change direction. Martin Bell managed to close the angle and saved well when he got enough of the ball to knock it off target, Curwood had got back to make up the numbers and made sure the other Galaxy players did not have an easy tap in, Christian Corder-Courtier also got back and was fouled as he tried to clear the ball and the danger had gone.

With 12 minutes left, Dynamos won a free kick just inside the Galaxy half, Peters took the free kick looking for the back post. The wind kept it central, and had the keeper backpedalling. The ball dipped just over the goalkeepers head and into the net to draw the sides level.

The game looked to be heading for extra time, but with about 5 minutes left, Dynamos had managed to turn the game around and took the lead. Another dangerous Dynamos corner was this time kept away from the keeper, but as it dropped, the Galaxy defender misjudged the flight of the ball when trying to head clear, and the ball hit his arm as the ball dropped, the referee pointed to the spot amongst the Home sides cries for handball.

Neil Taylor placed the ball on the spot, but there didn't look a firm bit of ground inside the area for Taylor to place the ball, with Doyle trying his best to clear as much water as he could. Taylor's penalty was saved by the keeper, but Taylor reacted well and got to the loose ball first, but his second effort was well saved. It looked like the chance had gone but the keeper failed to keep hold of the ball and Taylor stabbed home the ball.

Dynamos needed to keep disciplined and make sure they kept hold of possession. Galaxy worked a few throw-ins down the right but Eastbourne defended well and forced the ball down field away from the danger area.

The ref brought an end to this mud-bath of a game, where both sides had tried to play football on a pitch that wasn't suited for it. Dynamos make it through to the Quarter Finals, but Galaxy will have to return to the Rec for their league encounter, hopefully the conditions will be better next time.

We would like to thanks those supporters, players and management that braved the weather to come and support the team.