Busy Eastbourne football fans should be up for the cups - and the league

Christmas shopping is still weeks away. Fixing that garden shed door can wait. The students in your family can make their own way back from Uni. Your place is on a touchline. At Priory Lane, the Mighty Borough welcome St Albans City for an important National South fixture.

“This is not a phase of the season where you win the league,” commented manager Danny Bloor, “but it’s a phase where you have to keep up, build a platform, make sure you are in the pack.”

The Saints and the Sports are nicely placed in a crowded mid-table in National South, and Bloor was content this week with four points – and two clean sheets – from their games against Cheshunt and Farnborough.

Midfield creator Chris Whelpdale should finally be fit to return after a long injury lay-off, but Danny will be checking the fitness of keeper Lee Worgan – although Taylor Seymour proved an admirable deputy on Tuesday night. Crowds at the SO Legal Community Stadium have held up well this season and will probably top four figures on Saturday.

In the Second Round of the FA Vase, The Polegrove will host an absolute cracker of a tie between Bexhill Town and Eastbourne Town.

Incidentally, there should be a sub-set of the Vase for clubs with the most poetic names. Who will you draw in the next round – Larkfield, Little Oakley or Mousehole? Cullompton, Laverstock or Brimscombe and Thrupp?

Hailsham locals will be heading for the Beaconsfield, where the Stringers entertain Wick FC in an SCFL division one fixture. And Eastbourne United, out of the Vase but revitalized this season, travel to Steyning Town in the Southern Combination – and off the field, supporters have been eagerly hearing about the club’s new development plans.

Next Tuesday (15th) sees a huge programme of Sussex Senior Cup fixtures right across the county. Borough entertain Shoreham at the Lane, while Eastbourne United must head west to Midhurst and Easebourne. Eastbourne Town face a trip to Hassocks. Elsewhere, the heavy artillery will line up for two huge ties: Hastings United receive Crawley Town at the Pilot Field, and at the Dripping Pan Lewes have an intriguing showdown with Bognor Regis Town.

Meanwhile Eastbourne Borough's hopes of an FA Trophy run to Wembley will face an enormous hurdle on the way. They must head to National South leaders Ebbsfleet United on Saturday week (19th) with a 2pm start: all spectators, by the way, should be double-checking kick-off times as clubs adapt to the various energy-saving measures now in play.

Half a world away in both geography and a few other respects, the Qatar World Cup looms ever larger – and while the Premier League will be on hold, the real world of local football trundles on. And non-league clubs with a bar and a big screen stand to gain. The trick will be simply to tweak your kick-off time, and throw open your clubhouse. Among other dates for the diary, the schedule for Saturday December 3 includes a 3pm fixture that might well involve England.

National South fixtures on that day are expected to kick off at 12.30 – still subject to confirmation – and Borough will entertain Chippenham Town at the Lane, with a post-match welcome to all in the clubhouse. But before that, there is a small matter of three weeks’ local action – from Vase to Trophy to Senior Cup and all the leagues in between. Spoiled for choice indeed...