Boss Garry Wilson criticised the role of the police as Eastbourne Borough’s six-game unbeaten run came to an end yesterday.

Borough’s coach received a police escort to Kenilworth Road after getting stuck in horrendous traffic on the way to the game.

But it was the Bedfordshire constabulary’s Sussex counterparts who Wilson was unhappy with as Borough’s run of five consecutive draws in the league was brought to a halt.

Luton Town were originally due to visit Priory Lane yesterday only for the match to be switched on the request of the police. It meant Borough were forced to take on one of the strongest sides in the division on their own patch just two days after a tough derby at Crawley.

Wilson said: “I don’t know why the game had to be changed and perhaps there should have been more effort made to see if it could have been played at Priory Lane.

“It certainly didn’t help us as it was always going to be tough coming here but even harder in these circumstances.

“If it had been at home then maybe we would have had a chance of getting something out of the match.

“Our fitness levels were good though and we never gave up so overall I was pleased with our effort.”

Borough eventually arrived at the ground less than an hour before kick-off but it did not seem to affect them as they took a surprise lead inside six minutes.

Matt Crabb exchanged passes with Simon Johnson and then fired a shot through the legs of Kevin Pilkington from just inside the area.

That seemed to sting Luton into action, however, and they stormed back to take control of the game by half-time.

They were level within three minutes as the dangerous Tom Craddock drove the ball across the face of goal and Matt Barnes-Homer got the decisive touch.

Craddock was causing Borough problems down the left and was involved in the second goal after 19 minutes. Danny Knowles did well to keep out his shot but Kevin Gallen reacted quickest to put away the rebound.

Luton were threatening to score every time they broke forward but Borough almost hit them on the counter to level after 25 minutes. A long ball from Danny Brown found Jamie Taylor down the right but Liam Enver-Marum was unable to divert his low cross in at the far post.

Borough were left with a mountain to climb when Gallen grabbed his second goal with a carbon copy of his first after 36 minutes. This time it was Barnes-Homer who forced Knowles to save, with Gallen on hand to tap home the loose ball.

At that point it looked like Luton could run away with it but Borough managed to get on top after the break.

Enver-Marum almost reduced the deficit four minutes after the restart when he curled a shot narrowly over the bar.

Luton wrapped up the points with 15 minutes to go.

Kevin Nicholls picked out Rossi Jarvis on the edge of the area and he was allowed time to turn and fire a shot inside the far post.

It means Borough have still not won in the league since September 22 but Wilson had plenty of reasons to be positive.

Wilson added: “We got off to a great start with a fantastic goal. That should have given us a platform to build on but we didn’t hold on to it for long enough.

“The difference between the two sides was the ability in the 18-yard box. Their movement was so quick to open up space and we were not switched on to it.

“We had most of the ball in the second half but they defended well. We had a couple of chances and if one had gone in it might have been different but this was always going to be a tough game for us.”

Luton: K Pilkington, Keane, G Pilkington, Newton, Nicholls, Craddock (sub Asafu-Adjaye, 79), Howells, Jarvis, Gnakpa, Gallen, Barnes-Homer (sub Hall, 68). Subs not used: Blackett, Gore, Nwokeji.

Booked: Nicholls.

Eastbourne: Knowles 7, Austin 6, Pullan 6, Elphick 6, Brown 6, Taylor 6 (sub Weatherstone, 79), Johnson 7, Armstrong 6, M Crabb 7, Fraser 6 (sub N Crabb, 58), Enver-Marum 7 (sub Atkin, 79). Subs not used: Smart, Rowe.

Referee: Robbie Martin.

Attendance: 6,646 (92 Borough).