Ebbsfleet United 1 Tonbridge Angels 0

Match 84/24/2323 - Tuesday, 18th March 2025 - Kent Senior Cup SF

Ebbsfleet United (0) 1 Anthony 90+2
Tonbridge Angels (0) 0
Attendance: 505
Admission: £5
Mileage: 54/5,955

It was a cruel exit for the Angels from the Kent Senior Cup as Ebbsfleet United scored a wonder goal in the 90th minute after the visitors had dominated proceedings for much of the game.

With the lottery of penalties imminent, Elijah Anthony collected a clearance and from 25 yards found the top corner with a superb effort to see the National League side into the final where they will meet Welling United.

Replying to Matt Davison’s assertion after the match that we deserved more, Jay Saunders said: “I think so. I was really pleased with the performance and the reaction from Saturday. I’ve said to the boys, we have been the nearly men this season when it comes to the league and in games with the chances we had tonight, we nearly took them and, unfortunately, it’s taken a hell of a strike to beat us when it looked like it would go to penalties.”

On another chilly evening of this seemingly endless winter, Jay was deprived of the services of Sean Shields through injury. Bailey Akehurst and Mikey Berry were cup-tied which brought Mo Dabre, Brody Peart and Taylor Maloney into the starting line-up from Saturday’s defeat at Bath City.

Backed by a noisy contingent that made up over a third of the attendance, Tonbridge started on the front foot and never relinquished that control until the final 10 minutes or so when the home side’s strength from the bench made an impact.

An chance fell to Peart within the first couple of minutes but his shot was directed at the Ebbsfleet goalkeeper, Felix Goddard, who was further tested on six minutes with an effort from Gianluca Botti.

A Dominic Poleon effort that cleared the bar by some distance was the only interruption in the Angels momentum who saw further chances for Dabre and Jack Wood go wide.

The best chance of the half came on 39 minutes when a right sided corner found the head of Botti, but from close range he could only steer his header narrowly wide of the post.

In the final act of the half, Botti was denied again this time by the feet of the advancing Goddard.

Dabre, feeling the recurrence of his hamstring injury, was substituted at the break by Nazrin Bakrin but the direction of play was unaltered with the Angels pressing forward for the most part.

Peart put an effort wide on 54 minutes followed by a golden chance on 64 minutes when a slightly heavy pass from Botti found Maloney stretching in front of goal to steer his opportunity wide.

As the home side brought National League regulars from the bench, the pressure on the Angels defence began to intensify but was being comfortably dealt with.

On 76 minutes, Academy player Kimsley Gatakata replaced Botti, who limped away from the action, and immediately had an opportunity in front of goal but, under pressure from a giant defender, he couldn’t get the necessary purchase on his shot and it was saved by Goddard.

Such is the nature of penalties, we will never know the outcome, but this was rendered unnecessary as the clock ticked past the ninety with the outrageous strike from Anthony that gave Matt Rowley no chance.

Jay concluded: “I’m disappointed for everyone associated with the club, it would have been a good final, we took it as seriously as we could, went as strong as we could and gave a really good account of ourselves and I don’t think we deserved to lose it over the 90 minutes.”