Eastbourne Dynamos kicked off their new season with a 3-0 defeat away to Hastings Rangers this Saturday.

Dynamos squad has been heavily changed from the team that secured the Division 3 title last year, with 6 players making their competitive debuts for the team.

But the new look side seemed to play just as well as the old side for the first 45 minutes as they dominated proceedings. Dynamos should have been ahead within the first few minutes Sean Corson won a header to put Dean Pugh through only for the defender to get in a last ditch challenge before the Dynamos winger could get to the ball. From the resulting throw in, Neil Taylor flick over his should went just over the bar from inside the box.

Dynamos continued to play some neat passing football, with Alex Speirs and Robert Spragg delivering some good passes to find the forwards and wingers. Lewis Colegate was finding lots of space down the right and was using every opportunity to get behind the defence.

Corson went close with one effort, but that he saw his shot go just wide of the upright. Taylor then nearly finished off a nice move as he tried to curl the ball in from the right hand side of the area, but that also went just wide of the post.

The visitors were enjoying a lot of the possession, and that was helped by some good defending by Mark Unsworth and Richard Payne, with Mike Stenning and Damien Mills providing some excellent support in both defence and attack. Martin Bell was called into action a couple of times when Hastings managed to get behind the defence, but he was equal to everything that was thrown at him,

Stenning raced down the wing from right back on a couple of occasions, one ending in him with a good opportunity but he also placed his shot inches wide of the post.

Eastbourne's only problem was that with all their nice approach play, they weren't taking their chances, or hitting the target. Maybe that started to affect their game and towards the end of the half, Hastings got more into the game and Dynamos started to resort to long ball passes to often.

Dynamos finished the half with a penalty claim that was turned away, mainly because the Dynamos winger tried to stay on his feet but never made it to the ball.

The second half, Dynamos failed to really get going, or see any sort of commitment that was evident in the first half. The second ball was being picked up by a Red and Black shirt all to often, and it was Rangers who were having more of the chances.

Bell was becoming getting more involved in the game than he would have liked, and Dynamos were creating less chances down the other end. Pugh went close to giving Dynamos the lead after Taylor flicked on a long ball, Pugh attempted to lob the keeper from about 30 yards but the ball dipped just wide of the post.

Dynamos then worked a free kick after Speirs had been fouled just outside the box. Corson was set up and his shot flew just wide of the post.

Hastings broke the deadlock with 15 minutes to go after a corner came in from the left and landed at the feet of the Rangers midfielder who from inside the six yard box, fired the ball high above Bell and into the roof of the net, clipping the cross bar as it went in.

Rangers increased their lead straight from the kick off as they took the direct approach and sent the ball straight down the middle, the striker looked like he helped the ball on with his hand as he raced through on goal, but the Dynamos protests fell on deaf ears as the striker strode through to slot the ball past Bell for the home sides second.

The game seemed to get a little heated and a few challenges started to fly in, things weren't helped from some suspect referee decisions. As the game moved towards its final minutes, Bell collected the ball following a Hastings attack, as he attempted to throw the ball out to get Eastbourne on the attack, a Hastings player blocked the ball with his hands.

Just as the game was entering injury time, Hastings added a third. They passed it well round Eastbourne before creating an opening and then firing low past Bell into the far corner for a well-taken goal.

Dynamos were disappointed with the overall result as they felt it didn't really reflect the game. 3-0 flattered the home side that should have found themselves behind after the opening period. Eastbourne were even more disappointed in the fact that their performance dipped so low after an impressive first half. Maybe some shooting practice is needed because if they had taken atleast one of their many chances, the game may have finished very differently.