Eastbourne Borough 0, Thurrock 3

Steve Harper returned to Sussex and dug Thurrock out of a hole to keep their FA Trophy hopes alive.

Fleet lost left-back David Collis to a red card with the score at 0-0 after 43 minutes, but the controversial dismissal seemed to inspire Colin McBride's team who were 2-0 up by half-time and three goals clear 10 minutes into the second half.

Harper stole the show, scoring twice and playing a central role in the other goal as his impressive movement, touch and finishing proved too much for Eastbourne's relatively ponderous defence.

The former Burgess Hill striker said: "It's always nice to come back and do well, seeing people that you know and you've played against before.

"It's a difficult place to get a result and I wouldn't say we cruised it, but we won quite comfortably in the end."

Manager McBride was delighted with his striker's performance but less thrilled by the "disgusting" performance of referee Gary Johnson who first cautioned Collis for persistent foul play, then sent him off for disputing the decision.

Although it was far from clear at the time, the official later confirmed the dismissal was a straight red card for foul and abusive language, rather than just a second yellow.

Johnson then lectured McBride on the touchline, but Thurrock struck in first-half stoppage time when Harper latched on to Mark Goodfellow's long ball and rounded goalkeeper Lee Hook to open the scoring.

As if that wasn't a dramatic enough ending to the half, there was more to come as Harper beat Hook with a powerful shot that was heading for the top of the net until defender Phil Warner tipped it over.

Warner's ad hoc goalkeeping antics earned him a red card before Lee Hodges converted the penalty, leaving Thurrock two goals up with 10 men against 10 for the second half.

Any doubts about the result were dispelled after 55 minutes. Stuart Tuck did brilliantly to head Hodges' free-kick off Borough's goal-line, but Harper reacted quickly to cap a virtuoso performance with a sharp finish.

Highly-rated Brighton and Hove Albion youngster Dean Cox almost scored for Eastbourne with a fine curling shot, but Borough's Ollie Rowland was stretchered off with a serious knee injury and Thurrock were the better side throughout.

Garry Cross fired over when Harper headed back Collis' free-kick, Harper shot narrowly wide, Hook thwarted the same player when he left Kevin Hemsley trailing for pace and Hodges shot over from Harper's backheel.

If all this sounds like a party political broadcast on behalf of the Steve Harper Party, then so be it. He was at the centre of almost everything progressive for Fleet.

With Harper's work done, McBride took the opportunity to blood former Celtic youth player Kirk Hudson for his debut as a late substitute.

The 18-year-old trialist, who has played twice in competitive matches for Bournemouth this season, trained with his new team-mates for the first time only two days before the match but looked lively up front and almost added a fourth goal in the final minute.

So can Thurrock match the feat of Grays last season by lifting the FA Trophy as a Nationwide Conference South side?

McBride described his team's chances of winning the competition as "slim", but added: "You never know. When was the last time a Conference side won the FA Trophy? It hasn't happened for a while."