Ebbsfleet United 4 Bromley 0

Match 81/13/1107 - Wednesday, 30th April 2014 -
Conference South Play-Off 1st Leg

Ebbsfleet United (2) 4 B May 2, Bricknell 9 (pen), Howe 60,
McMahon 80
Bromley (0) 0
Att. 1,693

Entrance: £8 Senior
Programme: £2.00
Mileage: 56/7,477

Match Report

On my last Tuesday evening of the season, with three of the four Conference South Play-off places occupied by Kent clubs, Ebbsfleet's tie with Bromley was an attractive proposition. On New Year's Day, Bromley thrashed Ebbsfleet at Stonebridge Road and led the division by a dozen points or so, but 2014 has seen the pack close in on the Hayes Lane outfit and, in the case of Eastleigh, overtake them to take the title of champions and the automatic promotion place. Ebbsfleet, meanwhile came into the game in a rich vein of form, especially at home where seven straight wins had also brought seven clean sheets. Bromley, having ended the regular season as the division's top scorers were expected to put this record under a good deal of pressure.

So with this in mind, the opening ten minutes of the game was somewhat unexpected. Ebbsfleet won a corner in the first minute and Daryl McMahon's low corner from the right evaded Bromley's defenders in the six yard box and Ben May was at the far post to tap in the opening goal after 62 seconds.

Bromley's night went from bad to worse after eight minutes when they once again failed to deal with a McMahon corner. A header was pushed against the bar by Joe Welch and a further two efforts on goal failed to find the net, the third of which had been prevented with the hands of Alex Nicholls who conceded a penalty and saw a red card for his trouble. Billy Bricknell drove home the spot kick to leave both sets of supporters staring in disbelief.

Credit must go to Bromley for the way in which they galvanised themselves for the rest of the half reduced to 10 men with Brendan Kiernan posing a significant threat.

From a tactical point of view, Bromley might have considered accepting their two-goal deficit to mount a fresh assault in Saturday's return leg with eleven men on the field, but they pressed on early in the second half only to be suckered by a counter punch on the hour. A brilliant pass from McMahon was turned into the path of full back Joe Howe who slid the ball under the advancing Welch to put the tie almost out of the reach of the Lilywhites.

A fourth goal would almost certainly render the second leg a formality and it came with ten minutes remaining with McMahon almost inevitably involved once more. The Fleet skipper, man of the match in my opinion by a country mile but not the sponsor's choice, dribbled along the byeline and embarrassed Welch at his near post as his shot went under the keeper's body and into the net.

There can be no way back for Bromley who must be reflecting on how the wheels came off their promotion bid since that New Year's Day mauling of their hosts. The other semi-final between Dover Athletic and Sutton United goes into Saturday's second leg all-square after a 1-1 draw at the Crabble. On last night's performance Ebbsfleet will be fancying themselves against whoever comes out on top.