It’s that stage of the season where it doesn’t matter how you win as long as you do – and Fleet came from behind against a frustrating and organised Slough Town side to take all three points as the play-off push heads on into its final month.

Trailing going into the last quarter of the game, a Kwesi Appiah penalty and a late Josh Coley header turned this one around after Slough had taken a second-half lead against the run of play and done everything in their power to run the clock down thereafter.

Josh Wright made four changes to his side as Ronny Nelson, Ben Coker, Gene Kennedy and Dominic Samuel started in place of Mustapha Olagunju, Kwesi Appiah, Josh Coley and Finlay Barnes.

The first-half was a fairly pedestrian affair with Slough bright in the opening moments but increasingly content to sit back and hit their hosts on the break. Kennedy received a caution after only three minutes for a fairly innocuous challenge but the referee was content to keep his cards contained after that until well into the second period.

Fleet’s first breakthrough arrived on eight minutes when an overlap down the right got Ben Chapman in behind and his shot was well parried by Michael Edegbe in the Slough goal.

Slough’s tactic to hit Fleet on the counter might have paid dividends 11 minutes in when the visitors broke upfield from a corner. Harvey Walker showed an excellent turn of pace to keep his pursuers at bay and got as far as the Fleet box before an excellent saving tackle by Josh Passley denied him the chance for a shot.

Chapman and Ben Coker had a couple of sniffs at goal inside the Slough box before a good move courtesy of Passley delivered a ball to the far post that was just a little too high for Chapman to get over properly and he could only direct his header high of the crossbar.

Fleet enjoyed the bulk of possession after that, with Slough often spending several minutes without the ball, but they got all their men behind it and there was no way through for the red shirts. Tom Dallison went close from a corner on 33 minutes but his header could only find the arms of Edegbe.

Slough threatened again six minutes before the break when Jaiden Celestine-Charles found Luke Holness with a neat through ball. The Rebels front man had only Matt Hall to beat but the Fleet goalkeeper did well to block that and send it behind for a corner.

Fleet’s best chance arrived shortly afterwards when a Coker free-kick from the right was met by Dallison and touched on to the post and with the opportunity still alive, Kennedy surged into the box and swung a shot over the upright.

Slough survived that and they came out after the break to reap the reward. Five minutes into the second period, Walker got goal side of Nelson to leave him one on one with Hall who made a tremendous stop. But with the ball still alive, Dan Roth picked up play down the opposite side and found the corner with a shot that took a big deflection as it headed in.

Fleet now faced ranks of 10 outfield players behind the ball and the visitors ate up time with numerous Oscar-worthy acts of affliction. Substitute Marcus Wyllie had a good chance to equalise on 56 minutes when Jake Hessenthaler floated an excellent ball into the box but the Gillingham loanee took it on the half-volley and it flashed over.

Wright threw on Finlay Barnes and then three more attacking players at once as he went all out to earn something from this game.

The triple substitution paid off at once. Lennon Peake had barely touched the ball when he was flattened in the box by Slough skipper Kiki Oshilaja who received a yellow card for his troubles. Up stepped fellow substitute Kwesi Appiah on 77 minutes to bury the spot-kick and bring the scores level.

Slough’s bursts of injury suddenly vanished, giving their physios some much-needed down time, and Fleet sensed they could win it. With five minutes left, Appiah tried to pick his spot with a shot that Edegbe beat out and Wyllie couldn’t quite make up the ground to convert.

But the winner came with five minutes left. A corner into the box was met by Nelson whose header didn’t quite have the range but Coley pounced instead to give it the extra weight and send the Plough End into delirium.

Having deserved at least the nine minutes of time added on, the Fleet – with their noses in front – could have suddenly done without it but they had several chances to extend the lead. Peake’s run was stopped on 93 minutes with calls for another penalty before Wyllie did well to battle and get in behind John Clarke but with the goal opening up for him, he was denied by Edegbe. Appiah’s run and shot also promised a third goal but whistled just past the post.

There was still time for a sending-off as Oshilaja went down under a challenge and decided to pick the ball up without the referee whistling for a foul. It was a second yellow for him and with time finally up, three points for the Fleet.

EUFC: Hall, Passley, Dallison (Coley 73), Nelson, Coker, Seaman, Hessenthaler, Kennedy (Wyllie 56), Edser (Peake 73), Chapman (Barnes 63), Samuel (Appiah 73). Subs: Cosgrave, Olagunju.
STFC: Edegbe, Gidaree (Nelson 88), Zabeli, Oshilaja, Dyce, T.Clarke (Koroma 88), Roth, Celestine-Charles (Trotman 83), Makumbi (J.Clarke 72), Walker, Holness (Appiah 90+5). Subs: Myers, Dennison.
Attendance: 1,625
Images courtesy of Ebbsfleet United FC/Dave Plumb