United opened their season acount at the third attempt as a brace from James Constable helped them on the way to a 6-3 win over Eastbourne in a remarkable game that mixed fine attacking play with defensive errors.

The first twenty minutes set the tone, with a 2-0 lead inside ten minutes, then two conceded in the next ten! And the fun didn't end there...

To deal with those first twenty minutes then:

It took just three minutes for the break through, by which time United had already put together two flowing moves and shown great urgency. The second move earned a corner which Adam Murray drilled in and Luke Foster headed on. A shot from Haldane was parried by Lee Hook, but only as far as Constable, six yards out, who buried the ball with glee to register his first goal for the club. It won't be his last...

The team that had struggled to break down Weymouth was having no such problem against The Sports, and four minutes later they were 2-0 up and rampant as Reid slammed in his own first goal. Once agan Constable was involved, rolling his man on the edge of the area and laying the ball into the path of the left winger, and Reid made no mistake with a thumping drive from just inside the area with his left foot.

The home fans were singing you might as well go home, but Eastbourne had other ideas.

On eleven minutes they  were level as Allan Tait rattled the cross bar with Jake Cole beaten and Patrick Harding was ideally placed to tap home the rebound into the unguarded net. Worse was to come. Seventeen minutes and Tait caused chaos again amid a strangley disjointed United defence, and was allowed to roll the ball past Cole (with far too much ease) from ten yards.

The back line was United's strength last year but had all the unity of the two UK synchronised divers this week as they tumbled ober each other two minutes later and were relieved to see Tait tap too tamely past Cole with the goal at his mercy.

United took a while to pick themselves up, with Atkin twice going close with headers in the 33rd minute and Paul Armstrong smacking a shot from twenty five yards against Cole's right hand post, and United needed something to go their way to change their luck. Step forward the Eastbourne centre halves. Yemi crossed deep from the right, Ben Austin headed poerfully across his own six yard box with no United player within ten yards, and defensive partner Marc Pullen just couldn't get out of the way, deflecting the ball apologetically past the stranded Hook and into his own goal.

United might have extended that lead right on half time as Eddie Hutchinson, on for Joe Burnell who had suffered an ankle inury, headed a Murray corner smack against the bar, but a 3-2 lead at half time did two things, illustrating the attacking promise and defensive problems of the U's so far this season.

The second half started in slightly more orderly style, with both sides clearly tightening up after a few choice words from their managers,  but that didn't last long. The hard work of Constable earned Yemi a chance to try and chip over the stranded keeper and two defenders on 58 minutes, with the shot drifting well wide in the end.

Hutchinson, having a very effective game in the middle of the park, almost got the finishing touch to another cross on 64 but the danger was always there from crosses at  the other end and on 65 a simple ball in from left back Jenkins was allowed to travel a long way, in between the defenders, and Armstrong was all alone as he drifted in to volley past the stranded Cole and make it 3-3.

It was looking grim, but on 68 minutes United were ahead once more as the goalscoring reached silly levels. Reid had a shot blocked, the ball went out to the right and Haldane was alert enough to chase it and deliver a fine cross back in. Constable was thwarted by Hook at close range but Hutchinson was there to knock the loose ball in to make it 4-3 and grab the goal he deserved.

It was remarkable stuff to watch. Every time United went forward they looked like scoring, as shown by a Haldane effort on 75 which only just missed the target, but every ball into the United box was being treated like a hand grenade and there was no way of relaxing until the 80th minute as Constable finally finished the game off. Odubade had come to life and was terrifying his former team mates. When he squared the ball across the box Constable was lurking as ever to turn and thump the ball past Hook for a fine goal to make it 5-3.

Great entertainment, and with three minutes to go it was 6-3 as Quinn put those defensive frailties behind him to head, unmarked, past Hook from Murray's left wing corner. Brilliant.

Probably great to watch, a huge sigh of relief as the first three points went on the board, and United are up and running. The season starts here (and I'm off for a little lie down)

Att:3,969

Away: 88