Ebbsfleet United (1) 2 Kedwell 37, Cunnington 86
Braintree Town (0) 0
Att. 821
Entrance: £8 Senior
Programme: £2
Mileage: 56/4,638
Match Report
Day, highly regarded as one of the south-east’s bright young managers, has shifted players in and out of Stonebridge Road with the gusto of Black Friday shopper and some of the incoming names, in Conference South terms, have been quite stunning.
From my point of view the eye-catching, at the time jaw-dropping, signing was that of Danny Kedwell. In truth, there had been whispers and whispers of Ebbsfleet to be fair, but if Kedwell was to leave Gillingham, I expected him to stay in the Football League.
Kedwell’s stock at Gillingham had, undoubtedly fallen. He was no longer an automatic choice, but remained a regular one and a hernia operation before Christmas had resulted in a fairly length spell on the sidelines. But with goals at the time something of a premium at Priestfield, it was a major surprise that their senior striker was deemed surplus to requirements.
Also treading the path from Priestfield to Stonebridge Road was Matt Fish. The Gillingham full-back had been unable to hold down a regular first-team position since his season-long injury in 2013 and a loan move to Portsmouth had proved unsuccessful.
Among the other newcomers brought to the club by Day were Stuart Lewis, from Wycombe Wanderers, well known in these parts for his spell at Gillingham; Adam Cunnington and Tom Bonner arrived from Cambridge United, Kelvin Langmead from Northampton Town and Theo Lewis from Woking.
The stand-out name going through the exit door was Daryl McMahon who surprisingly was allowed to leave to join fellow Conference South promotion contenders, Boreham Wood.
This Fourth Round Replay, virtue of a 1-1 draw at Conference side Braintree, was held on a cold evening that perhaps restricted the attendance to a number that was short of the thousand that could have been expected.
A tight first half struggle ensued with chances at a premium for both sides. The deadlock was finally broken, eight minutes before the break, with a goal manufactured in Gillingham. Fish drove in a low cross across the face of Nick Hamann, whose parrying save fell at the feet of Kedwell at the far post to touch home from close range.
Hamann was then thankful to his centre half for a goal line clearance that saved the Essex side going into the break two goals down.
Much of the second half was one-way traffic as Braintree sought to repair the first half damage. Ebbsfleet were forced defend resolutely but Preston Edwards was only asked to make one save of real significance, low to his left to save from an Simeon Akinola header.
A place in the quarter finals, for the first time in six years, was sealed for Ebbsfleet with four minutes remaining when Cunnington robbed Alan Massey on the edge of the box, rolling the ball past the advancing Hamann.
The Kuwaiti revolution at Stonebridge Road is underway with big plans for redevelopment of the stadium in the very near future. Top priority, without doubt, is to get out of Conference South and this, at present, only looks achievable via the play-offs, a position from which Steve Brown failed last term. Ambition knows no limit for the owners and their bright, young manager. Where they are heading, only time and money will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment