A spectacular goal from Neil Jenkins secured Eastbourne Borough a battling victory at a packed Priory Lane last night.

Borough were second best for much of the contest and were forced to cling on after Jenkins gave them the lead in stunning fashion early in the second half.

It was only the full-back’s fifth goal for the club in 138 games but was worthy of winning any match and made amends for conceding a penalty in the 3-0 defeat at Wrexham on Saturday.

Manager Garry Wilson said: “It was one of those games where it was going to take something like that to win it and I am just pleased it was us who got it. It was a nice move and capped off by a great finish.

“We didn’t play as well as we know we can but the result was all that mattered. We know we have got to target wins at home no matter who we play.

“We worked hard as a team and there were a lot of positives to take from the game but there is still plenty of room for improvement.”

Despite confusion over whether visiting fans could buy tickets on the night the away end was packed long before kick-off.

There was an impressive turnout from the Borough faithful too in a crowd of 3,108 but there was little for them to get excited about until Jenkins’ outrageous strike.

Borough’s defence looked ponderous at times and Wimbledon’s best chance of the first half came courtesy of an uncharacteristic mistake from Marc Pullan. The defender made a complete hash of a long clearance but Danny Kedwell let him off the hook by firing over after being set up by Jon Main.

At the other end Liam Enver-Marum looked threatening but was starved of service and Borough’s only real sight of goal came from a 20-yard drive from Danny Brown which flew wide.

The boisterous away fans were stunned into silence five minutes after the break. Brown switched the ball to the left wing where Matt Crabb helped it on to Jenkins who took it in his stride before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the top corner from 25 yards.

Instead of building on the goal Borough sat back as Wimbledon went in search of an equaliser.

Knowles was called into action three times as the visitors turned up the pressure as he saved well from Derek Duncan, Lewis Taylor and Luke Moore.

Borough did manage sporadic counter attacks and the impressive Jamie Taylor came close to settling the game when he glanced a header narrowly wide from Ben Austin’s cross.

Wilson added: “It was nice to get off the mark in terms of points and also to keep a clean sheet.

“There was a great atmosphere and at times the game seemed like a local derby. Perhaps that is why we didn’t show as much composure as we would have liked but we defended well got the result we wanted.”

Eastbourne: Knowles 6, Austin 8, Baker 6, Pullan 6, Jenkins 8, Smith 6 (Smart, 70), Brown 6, Armstrong 7, M Crabb 6, Taylor 7 (Johnson, 90), Enver-Marum 6 (Atkin, 73). Subs not used: Jordan, Elphick.

Booked: M Crabb, Brown.

AFC Wimbledon: Pullen, Hussey, Taylor, Godfrey (Hatton,60), Garrard, Duncan (Moore, 62), Gregory, Johnson, Lorraine. Subs not used: Conroy, Judge, Brown, Kedwell, Main.

Booked: Duncan.

Referee: Rob Whitton (Essex).

Attendance: 3,108.

Man-of-the-match: Neil Jenkins.