Eastbourne Borough secured promotion to the premier division despite a 2-0 defeat at King's Lynn.

Borough went into the game knowing that a point would be enough to take them up, but in the end it wasn't necessary as promotion rivals Stamford went down 2-1 at Bashley.

Garry Wilson's team could still emerge as champions if they beat Fisher at Priory Lane next Saturday and new leaders Dorchester lose at home to King's Lynn.

There were no Eastbourne celebrations after Saturday's defeat.

Wilson admitted: "It is hard to celebrate promotion when you have just lost. We will have to save that until after the Fisher game.

We got off to a torrid start and never recovered, but you cannot take anything away from King's Lynn. Their movement was good even when we beat them 4-1 earlier in the season.

"This is the kind of side we are going to face week after week in the premier division. It is a reality check for me and an indication of how much work there is ahead of us."

Borough got off to the worst possible start by going a goal behind in the third minute.

Ben Austin lost control of the ball, Richard Woodrow pounced and found Chris Bacon who coolly fired past Paul Stark from the edge of the area.

Borough had Stark to thank for keeping them in the game, racing out to foil Carl Holmes who had combined well with the outstanding Dave Staff to split the Eastbourne defence.

It was no surprise when King's Lynn scored their second in the 45th minute. Stark was caught too close to the near post for Staff's corner kick from the left and Mark Burrows was left with a simple nod-in.

Borough saw a lot more of the ball in the second half, but wasted precious chances to get back into the game.

They almost pulled a goal back in the 70th minute when John Price's header from Daren Pearce's corner was cleared off the line by Lewis Blois. Matt Crabb and Peter Baker replaced the out-of-sorts Austin and Dave Adams and Baker should have had a goal within a minute of being on the field.

Scott Ramsay did superbly to win the ball on the left, but his perfect low cross was wasted when Baker's shot from 10 yards was saved by keeper Steve Wilson's foot.