Ebbsfleet United 1 Torquay United 0

Match 67/07/684 - Saturday, 10th May 2008 - FA Trophy Final

Ebbsfleet United (1) 1 McPhee 45
Torquay United (0) 0
Att. 40,186

Entrance: £25
Programme: £3
Mileage: 100/6,561

Match Report

After the season that I’ve endured, who could blame me for a little end of season glory hunting. But it was more than that, a Kent side into a non-league final for the first time since 2000, in fact the first time in a Trophy Final is more than a good enough reason. But also I had to live up to the banner heading on my blog, a season that would begin and end at Wembley, albeit that it wasn‘t the Gills supplying the finish.

Ebbsfleet’s arrival at Wembley is the culmination of a season of change like no other as a club. Forever, to old-timers like myself, they will be Gravesend and Northfleet, but to take advantage of the marketing opportunity presented by having a major rail terminal sited on their doorstep they changed their name to Ebbsfleet. They were then the subject of a mid-season takeover, not by the traditional rich businessman, but by 35,000 members of a website. MyFootballClub is a site that members have paid £35 each for a share in the potential purchase of a football club and that club turned out to be Ebbsfleet. When the takeover was proposed there was, and probably still are, fundamental questions about the control of club matters. It was said that surfers could have influence in picking the team, sacking the manager, none of this has materialised, but the truth is that they have had a reasonably successful team that has flirted all season with the Conference play-offs and now reached a Wembley Final, why would they want to change anything?

The good people of Gravesend and Northfleet bought into this final big time and sold 21,500 tickets at Stonebridge Road and of the tickets that were sold on the day (including mine), they must have made that up to 25,000. It all made for a really good atmosphere, better than most England games of late.

Torquay started much the better and had three good chances before Gravesend (cos that’s who they are!) had a shot at goal. Lance Cronin made one particularly good save and another missed by the narrowest of margins. But following these first 20 minutes the Kent side took a grip of the game and in the 43rd minute were offered the golden chance to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty. Chris McPee, who previously had a six out of six record from the spot, had a poor effort comfortably saved by the Gulls keeper. McPhee made amends on the stroke of half-time when he was on the end of a cross from the excellent John Akinde, who had robbed a dithering Torquay defender.

As the second half reached its last fifteen minutes, the Ebbsfleet support really started to believe that they might just win this and began to match their numbers with a noise befitting, although the much despised Mexican Wave betrayed them as day-trippers, the real fans were too busy biting their nails.

I have to say that I met the final whistle with an elation that almost caught myself by surprise. This was a really good day out, a thoroughly entertaining game that brought back memories of what it is like to win at Wembley. It brought the curtain down on season 2007-08 and the first year of That’ll be the Day, which I’ve enjoyed doing and it will be back in July with pre-season friendlies.