Matchwinner John Price believes Eastbourne Borough have enough character to win the Eastern Division title.

The defender scored the winner against promotion rivals Stamford at Priory Lane to send Borough top of the league for the first time this season.

The goal came straight from the training ground with Price arriving late at the back post to head home a corner from Daren Pearce on 72 minutes.

It was just reward for Borough who battled back from a goal down against a team who had gone into the game in third place, having lost just once in their last 13 matches.

Richard Bailey gave the visitors the lead on 22 minutes when he fired in from outside the area after Borough keeper Paul Stark had mis-kicked a clearance.

Borough levelled the game on the stroke of half time through Scott Ramsay who scored his 31st of the season with a 25-yard strike which sped into the bottom corner.

Price, who won the eastern division with Newport IoW before coming to Priory Lane last summer, thinks the performance proved Borough can be champions.

He said: "It shows the character in the side. It wasn't the prettiest of games but we ground out the result and that is what you need to do sometimes.

"The last few games have been a real eye-opener for me because we have shown we can knuckle down and scrap out results.

"That is definitely one of the reasons why we are up there. We have played some great football this season and you don't get to the top of the table without good players, but we have also shown we have enough character in the team to be there too.

"If we can show that sort of effort for the rest of the season, then we should be very close to winning it."

Price's goal epitomised the character in the Borough side as he was very nearly not on the pitch to score it.

He suffered a hip injury in the first minute of the game after colliding with Stark when challenging Stamford striker Kevin Byrne who punched the ball into the net.

The visiting forward received a yellow card for deliberate handball while Price had treatment and the injury troubled the defender for the rest of the first half.

"I got a whack in the first minute and managed to get through until half time and have a bit of treatment.

"Garry (Wilson) and Nick (Greenwood) told me to come off because they didn't want to aggravate it but I wanted to carry on.

"I had a few painkillers at half time and we were going to give it five minutes just to see if I could run it off, so to come out and score the winner was really nice."

It was the second time Price had come to Borough's rescue with a vital goal.

In January he scored in the last minute to earn a 2-2 draw against former leaders Bashley who Eastbourne now have a two point lead over and a game in hand.

His goal delighted manager Wilson: "We work on that one in training and he's now got eight for the season which is very good for a centre half.

"We were talking about that Bashley goal before the game and how crucial it could be at the end but that one could prove even more important."

Wilson also saluted the character in his side and had extra praise for Price and fellow defender Stuart Tuck who completed the game despite suffering a broken nose just after the hour mark.

He said: "You get some players who get a knock during a big game and think they have done their bit and hobble off. But when you know you have got boys in your team who won't do that and want to stay on and fight for the cause then you are half way there."

The win was all the more sweet because their rivals Bashley lost to Sittingbourne, but Wilson is not getting excited just yet.

He said: "We know there is still a lot of football left and we have hard games coming up so we are not taking anything for granted."