Jude Macdonald would love to take his hometown team back into the Isthmian League.

But the Eastbourne Town boss is under no illusions about the challenge facing his side as play-off football comes to the Southern Combination.

Teams placed second to fifth go into a knockout this week in a bid to join champions Steyning Town in winning promotion.

Eastbourne Town go in as top seeds having finished second in the regular season following a run of 43 points from their last 15 games.

They host Hassocks, who have just recorded their best-ever points tally, this evening while Crowborough are at home to Newhaven (both 7.45pm).

Former Whitehawk manager Macdonald has welcomed the introduction of play-offs, even though his side finished second.

He said: “I think it’s a good idea.

“It gives a great opportunity to a lot of teams, especially if you had one team with a lot to spend as has happened in previous seasons.

“We only went second on the last day so maybe I’d have felt gutted if we had been second all season and then had to go through the play-offs!

“But we were ninth in January and having the play-offs was a good thing.

“We had a rethink halfway through the season, which not many teams do.

“We have been a bit more high energy, we are scoring more goals.

“We were looking very stodgy as a team, which was my fault, so we changed things without really changing personnel.”

Town came down from the Isthmian League ten years ago.

Macdonald said: “I’m from Eastbourne originally so it would be really nice to help the club grow.”

Hassocks took the last remaining play-off spot when they beat Newhaven 5-1 before a crowd of 673, a record at The Beacon for a league game.

Despite losing Dan Turner to a first-half red card, they scored four goals after the break, the pick of them a beautifully controlled right-foot volley by Jack Troak, a livewire attacker who has reportedly attracted plenty of interest.

Macdonald said: “Hassocks will be really difficult to play against.

“In my two seasons here, we have lost three times and drawn once against them.

“The job James (Westlake, head coach) has done there is unbelievable.

“There is no way I could have got a team into the play-offs on zero budget and they are on a high.

“But we need to concentrate on what we do.”