Simon Weatherstone marked his debut with a spectacular volley to give Eastbourne Borough a deserved lead against a poor Rushden side at half-time.

The former Crawley midfielder hit a first-time left-foot volley into the roof of the net from the edge of the area which gave Dale Roberts no chance in the Rushden goal.

It was no more than Borough deserved after dominating the opening 45 minutes without being able to find the cutting edge in the final third.

Liam Enver-Marum came close to giving Borough the perfect start when he beat Roberts to a high cross from Weatherstone but his header went narrowly wide.

Roberts was at fault again in the 20th minute when his weak punch fell to Weatherstone on the edte of the area who sent a volley just over.

The visitors rarely threatened although they did have the ball in the net in the 15th minute when Aaron O'Connor lobbed Danny Knowles, but the flag head already gone up for offside.

O'Connor lobbed Knowles again in the 44th minute after beating Darren Baker to Rob Wolleaston's ball over the top but this time his effort cleared the bar.

Craig Farrell also wasted a great opportunity when Wolleaston's header found him unmarked in the area but he volleyed wildly over when he had more time.

The only setback for Borough was an injury to Neil Jenkins midway through the half. Jenkins went down clutching his left hamstring and was replaced by Matt Smart, with Danny Brown switching the left-back.