Sutton 1 Eastbourne Borough 5.

Defender Andy Ballard insists there will be no title talk among the Eastbourne Borough players after they regained pole position in Blue Square south.

Ballard scored his second goal in as many games to help Borough move a point clear of Sussex rivals Lewes with a comfortable win at bottom club Sutton United.

With the Rooks struggling with injuries and back-to-back league defeats for the first time, Garry Wilson's side are now arguably favourites in the championship race.

They are returning to top form at just the right time and have a game in hand on their closest rivals.

But while some Borough fans maybe allowing themselves to start dreaming about Blue Square premier division football, Ballard says it is not mentioned within the dressing room.

He said: "All the players know we are in a good position and everyone is pleased with how it is going but we know we have to be realistic.

"There are still a lot of games left and it is very close so you can't think too far ahead.

"We don't talk about winning the title or anything like that, we just concentrate on trying to win every game."

Wilson also played down the significance of going back to the top and reckons there will be more ups and downs with Lewes before the silverware is dished out.

He said: "It is good to be top but we know things change very quickly. A few weeks ago we were four points behind and now we are one in front, so there are going to be a few more twists and turns in the last nine games."

The most encouraging aspect for Borough, and a suggestion that this could be their year, is that they are picking up points without playing well.

They barely got out of second gear at Gander Green Lane but still managed to sweep aside hopeless Sutton.

They adopted a direct approach which was not easy on the eye but it was certainly affective.

The home side were awful at the back and panicked every time Borough launched a long ball towards big frontmen Scott Ramsay and Andy Atkin.

The pair won just about everything in the air and were too strong and powerful for Sutton's shaky defenders.

Wilson said: "We had Sutton watched and we saw some of their weaknesses. They played five in midfield and that made it very congested in the middle so we tried not to play with it in there."

You could see the confidence drain out of the Sutton players once Ramsay opened the scoring with just four minutes gone.

Former Lewes defender Karim El-Salahi allowed a long punt from keeper Lee Hook to bounce and Ramsay raced clear to sneak a shot under Kevin Davies.

Another goal kick from Hook to Ramsay forced the corner which led to the second goal eight minutes before half-time.

Matt Crabb's kick was only half-cleared to Paul Armstrong, whose shot was deflected in from six yards by Atkin.

Armstrong netted the third goal just after half-time with a neat finish from Pat Harding's cross, before Ballard found the scoring touch again with a header from Crabb's corner on the hour.

Ballard, a summer signing from Abingdon, was handed a first league start since December last week in the absence of suspended Darren Baker and scored in the 4-0 win over Fisher.

He said: "It's two starts and two goals now for me now so I'm really pleased. You have to try and take your chance when it comes and hopefully I have done that. You could see Sutton are struggling a bit but we still had to work hard. The instructions were to get at them and try and get an early goal and once we did that you could see it got to them."

Atkin capped a routine victory three minutes after Ballard's strike with a close range finish from a Crabb cross, before El-Salahi gave the hapless Sutton fans something to shout about with the consolation goal eight minutes from time.

Wilson said: "We did not play particularly well but the difference now is we are taking our chances. That is something we have not done in the past. The goals are also coming from all over the field which is very positive."

Sutton: Davies, Whisken, R. Hughes, Scarborough (Cuff 46), El-Salahi, Alimi, Goodchild, Honey, Wright (Dunn 75), Dundas, Johnson (T. Hughes 46).

Subs not used: Ottaway, Ball.

Booked: Whisken (10) foul, Hones (15) foul.

Eastbourne: Hook, Lovett, Ballard, Pullen, Jenkins, Kember , Harding (Budd 75), Armstrong (Smart 66), Crabb, Atkin (Tait 64), Ramsay.

Referee: M. McLaughlin (Essex).

Attendance: 490.

Man-of-the-match: Andy Atkin.