January 27, 2024
Today saw yet another important game at the bottom of the National League, and with the two sides having the two worst defensive records in the division, a goal-fest looked on the cards.
Oxford City were on a dreadful run, and yet another last gasp defeat on Tuesday evening, at home to York City together with results elsewhere, sent them to the bottom of the table. The Hoops had now taken just 4 points from their last 9 matches.
The good news for Oxford City was the return from injury of influential midfielders Zac McEachran and Josh Ashby, who both made second half appearances against York from the bench.
Ebbsfleet arrived at Court Place Farm fifth from bottom in the table, 6 points ahead of Oxford City but having played one game more.
Ebbsfleet Background
Having previously been known as Gravesend and Northfleet, the name of the club was changed in 2007, after agreeing a shirt sponsorship deal with Eurostar in a bid to promote the Ebbsfleet valley area and the nearby newly-built Ebbsfleet international railway station.
Gravesend & Northfleet were founder members of the Alliance Premier Division in 1979/80, and played in the first three seasons of the newly formed national top division for non-league football. In total, the club had over the years enjoyed 16 seasons at the highest level of non-league football, before returning for this season after winning National League South, with Oxford City joining them via the play-offs.
Ebbsfleet’s home ground is the 4,769 capacity Stonebridge Road in Northfleet, which for sponsorship reasons is currently known as the Kuflink Stadium, where average attendances this season were 1,538.
Ebbsfleet started the season well, with 4 victories in their first 7 games, but then had only two wins in 20 matches. However, they were now on a better run of form, with two wins in their last three games, and a 1-0 win at Maidenhead on Tuesday, thanks to a goal 8 minutes from time, took them out of the bottom four for the first time since November.
Roy Hodgson is an ex-Fleet player, but the current squad features three ex-Crawley players ; midfielders Billy Clifford and Josh Wright and St Lucia striker Dominic Poleon ( 2 caps ). Poleon was deeply un-popular with Crawley fans following some disrespectful comments, some awful misses, a general lackadaisical attitude, and a feeling he belonged at a higher level after being released by Bradford City. There was a certain amount of schadenfreude when Poleon ended up in National League South, but to be fair, that was more to his liking as he found the net 36 times to fire Ebbsfleet to promotion, and he had 13 league goals to his name so far this season.
Ex-Colchester keeper Mark Cousins hit the headlines in December with his 92nd minute equaliser against York City, whilst forward Rakish Bingham had played for Hamilton, Hartlepool and Dundee United, and Malian midfielder Ousseynou Cisse ( 5 caps ) had played for Dijon, MK Dons and Leyton Orient. Centre-back Mustapha Olagunju was on loan from Huddersfield, and winger Omari Sterling-James played 17 times for Oxford City in 2015 when on loan from Cheltenham. He has won 20 caps for St Kitts and Nevis, so has been a team-mate of The Hoops’ Andre Burley on national service.
Winger Jordan Ibe played 41 times for Liverpool between 2012 and 2016, as well as playing for Bournemouth and Birmingham City but was selected for today, and Fleet’s manager was German Dennis Kutrieb, who led them to promotion from National League South.
On all three occasions I have seen them play they were called Gravesend & Northfleet, and all three matches were against Crawley Town. In 1986/87 I saw them lose 0-1 at Crawley in the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, followed by a dreadful 1-1 draw at Stonebridge Road late in 1991/92 when both sides were struggling at the bottom of the Southern League Premier Division, and it was evident from the quality of the play why that was. Fleet eventually finished bottom of the table whilst Crawley narrowly stayed up. The third game was also at Stonebridge Road in 1994/95, when Crawley won a battle between two mid-table sides 2-0 in front of a crowd of 804, with Joff Vansittart and Raphael Meade the goal-scorers.
Recent Meetings
When the two sides met back in November at Stonebridge Road, Oxford City ran out easy 4-0 winners with a red card to Billy Clifford having little bearing on the result. However, in 2022/23, Fleet won their home fixture 3-0 thanks to a hat-trick from Poleon, whilst the return in Oxford was a 1-1 draw. In 2021/22, Fleet were 3-1 victors at home, whilst the Hoops won 1-0 at Marsh Lane.
Matchday Information
Bet365 made Ebbsfleet evens favourites, with Oxford City at 11/5 and the draw at 11/4.
The weather at the 15.00 local kick-off time was bright and sunny with temperatures around 8 degrees. An extra bar had opened behind the main stand but there were no signs inside the ground advertising it so it was unused when I took a look.
The distance between Ebbsfleet and Oxford is just over 100 miles, and should normally take around two hours via the M25 and M40. A fair number of Fleet fans had arrived early, and the official number of visiting fans was announced as 171, but as there was no segregation for the game, I am not sure how this figure was determined !
Oxford City keeper Chris Haigh was not allowed to play today as he is on loan from Ebbsfleet, so Marcin Brzozowski was called up to make only his second appearance for the Hoops. There was only one other change from their starting XI against York, with Renny Smith replacing Alex Fisher, who was back at the club on loan from Yeovil, having last played in 2012. Ashby was again on the bench, but McEachran was missing completely.
Ebbsfleet made just one change from their mid-week victory over Maidenhead, with ex-Burnley, Leicester, Gillingham and AFC Wimbledon defender Luke O’Neill replacing Declan Skura. They were playing in their usual kit of red shirts, white shorts and red socks, with keeper Cousins in all pink, perhaps in tribute to the Pink Panther ?
Matchday Report
There was nearly a dramatic start to the match. Ebbsfleet kicked off and played the ball back to O’Neill whose attempted clearance was charged down by Parker, but although Smith and Parker combined, they couldn’t take advantage of the error. From the ensuing goal-kick good closing down by Humphrey-Ewers forced a corner, which went long, but the home side won a throw-in near the corner flag.
Ebbsfleet managed to clear their lines and worked the ball quickly forward to Poleon, who turned into the Oxford City area, but shot tamely at the keeper to give Brzozowski an early confidence booster.
As the fast pace to the early stages continued, good defending by Roddy halted a run from Sterling-James after a neat flick had put him in space, then a good spell of possession for Oxford City ended with a Humphrey-Ewers cross being well claimed by Cousins ahead of Parker.
With 14 minutes played, Sterling-James won possession mid-way inside the Oxford City half, and then struck the bouncing ball left-footed towards goal, but the attempted drifted a foot over the bar, although Brzozowski had it covered.
A pattern of play was developing, with Oxford City having the majority of possession, but Ebbsfleet were looking lively on the counter.
After 21 minutes a long cross-field pass from Tanner found Poleon on the right wing, and a dangerous low cross needed to be put off for a corner by Carroll before Bingham could pounce. The Fleet fans appealed in vain for handball when Smith controlled the corner and then attacked with Roddy in support. However, they could only win a throw-in deep inside Ebbsfleet territory.
Two minutes later, Humphrey-Ewers released Williams-Bushell to get to the by-line, and when his low ball to the near post was deflected, keeper Cousins dived onto the loose ball. Cousins also needed to be alert a minute later, claiming a through pass from Reece Fleet before Smith could latch onto it.
It was then Oxford City’s turn to spread the ball cross-field to the right wing, with Roddy’s pass well controlled by Williams-Bushell who was then fouled by Kenlock, but the referee allowed play to continue, presumably not impressed by the exaggerated way the City man fell to the floor.
Humphrey-Ewers continued to catch the eye with his skillful play, running onto Parker’s lay back to burst past two defenders inside the Ebbsfleet area before being crowded out for a corner. The corner was cleared back to Humphrey-Ewers, whose cross to the far post was well cleared for a corner by Olagunju ahead of two attackers.
A scramble followed from the corner, and Parker’s attempted back heel was blocked close to the goal-line. Ebbsfleet could only clear to Kirby just outside the area, who drilled the ball goalwards. It took a deflection from Fleet and fell to the feet of Burley unmarked 6 yards out, who slotted home to give Oxford City the lead. 1-0 after 36 minutes
The visitors attempted to strike back with Sterling-James finding O’Neill in space on the right-hand side, and Reece Fleet was forced to put the cross off for a corner. As the first half moved into added on time, Kenlock’s ball down the left-hand touchline enabled Poleon to run away from Burley but again there was no end product.
At half-time Oxford City led 1-0, which on the balance of play so far was a fair scoreline.
Both sides made changes at the start of the second half, with Ebbsfleet bringing on Darren McQueen and Toby Edser, whilst Ashby replaced Smith for the Hoops
Ashby was soon involved in the action, setting up Humphrey-Ewers but the left-footed shot was well held by Cousins.
At the other end, substitute McQueen got to the by-line and it needed a desperate clearance from Carroll to avert the danger. Cisse then teed up Tanner to shoot a few feet over from 25 yards.
At the other end a flowing move involving Fleet and Kirby enabled Williams-Bushell to run into the Ebbsfleet area and win a corner. Oxford City then nearly shoot themselves in the foot. Looking to rebuild, the ball was played back to last man Carroll, who slipped and gave the ball away to Poleon, who ran clear down the right-hand channel. Fortunately for the home side, Poleon’s attempted pass across goal was poor and a great chance was squandered.
The visitors were starting to get on top, and had another good chance in the 58th minute. Bingham and Roddy challenged for a cross from the left to the far post, and Ebbsfleet substitute McQueen reacted the quickest but could only fire the loose ball over the bar from 8 yards.
Oxford City responded with Williams-Bushell finding Ashby and his low ball from close to the by-line found Parker with his back to goal, but another back-heel from the Antiguan was blocked.
Ebbsfleet made their final change with 30 minutes remaining, bringing on ex-Blackburn Rovers, Gillingham and Ross County striker Dominic Samuel for the ineffective Tanner.
The Hoops continued to look for a second goal and a dangerous cross from Williams-Bushell was calmly chested back to his keeper by O’Neill with Roddy lurking behind him. Parker then was found yards clear of the last defender and for a few seconds it seemed as if play would be allowed to continue, but finally the flag was raised for the obvious offside.
A slick three first touch passing move from Ebbsfleet gave Edser the chance to shoot from 12 yards, but the finish was fired over, and shortly after Burley was shown the first yellow card of the game for pulling Edser to the floor after losing control of the ball to prevent a dangerous situation.
The Fleet fans behind the goal were then unhappy with the referee for awarding a free-kick to Oxford City after several players surrounded the keeper as a corner was played into the 6 yard box, then a long pass found Poleon in a suspiciously looking off-side position, but a good tackle by Carroll conceded a corner as the striker prepared to shoot. The home defence again looked suspect as the corner was played in, and Samuel’s header at the back post needed to be cleared off the line by Williams-Bushell, with Brzozowski nowhere to be seen.
Play was held up shortly after with Brzozowski needing treatment to his leg. It looked like it might have been cramp, but the Ebbsfleet fans behind the goal thought it was time wasting, despite there still being over 20 minutes left.
Samuel was having an influence for Ebbsfleet, and he found a smart pass to Poleon inside the Oxford City area. The striker opted to play the return pass to Samuel, whose shot from the edge of the area was blocked.
Samuel and Poleon again combined two minutes later, but Burley bravely blocked Samuel’s pile-driver, throwing his body at the ball to stop the attempt. Samuel continued to try his luck, but his 75th minute effort from 18 yards went just wide.
O’Neill then launched an optimistic 25 yarder well wide. The Ebbsfleet defender then did better two minutes later, sending a cross from the right bouncing across the penalty area, but Chapman arriving beyond the far post could only headed into the crowd.
The visitors’ frustrations were mounting, and one of their bench was shown the yellow card after a decision went again them.
It was all Ebbsfleet now, and with 4 minutes remaining a neat turn by Poleon draw a foul by Roberts just outside the penalty area. O’Neill stepped up to send a curling left footed free-kick crashing against the bar, and Oxford City were eventually able to clear to safety. Shortly after, an Ebbsfleet corner was well headed away by Burley, who followed up to win a free-kick to alleviate the pressure on the home side.
5 minutes of added time were signalled, and as City attempted to time waste by keeping the ball by the corner flag, Chapman was shown the yellow card for a bad foul out of desperation to win possession.
There was still time for Poleon to make a run down the right, but his fizzing ball across the 6 yard box was well held by the diving Brzozowski. The final whistle blew shortly after, to give Oxford City a much needed three points and a boast to their hopes of avoiding relegation. However, with all of the bottom 4 winning, Oxford City remain bottom of the table and face another important fixture at second bottom Kidderminster Harriers next Saturday.
Frankly, Oxford City were a little fortunate to hold on to win this game, but it probably makes up for several games this season where they conceded late goals to lose matches and drop points. They say it all evens out over the course of the season !
Ebbsfleet slipped back into the bottom 4 with this defeat and face a tricky looking game next Saturday at home to Oldham Athletic. However, they will be buoyed in the knowledge they beat the Latics 4-1 in the reverse fixture
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykZMIqPR1fQ
Oxford City : Brzozowski - Burley, Carroll, Roberts, Roddy – Williams-Bushell, Humphrey-Ewers ( Potter ), Fleet, Kirby ( Fisher ), Smith ( Ashby ) – Parker
Ebbsfleet United : Cousins – O’Neill, Olagunju, Kenlock – Sterling-James ( McQueen ), Wright ( Edser ), Cisse, Tanner ( Samuel ), Chapman - Poleon, Bingham
Very comprehensive and well researched. It also made interesting reading. I’ll definitely read more of your (Ebbsfleet) match reports
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