Ebbsfleet United have booked a spot in the next round of the Emirates FA Cup following a 3-1 victory over fellow National League South side, Maidenhead United, scoring three goals for the third time in a row against the Magpies.
It was a fond farewell for outgoing CEO Damian Irvine who announced his departure yesterday morning and a fitting end to his six-and-a-half-year spell, coming at the same venue and with the same scoreline as his first Fleet match.
It was something of a slow start to this tie with neither side threatening on goal in the opening stages and happy just to test each other out. The Fleet had the first chance of the match when Gene Kennedy’s header went close past the post following Lennon Peake’s delivery.
The hosts certainly had the upper hand on chances for long periods of the first-half but misses from Matty Achuba and Alfie Pendlebury from six yards out that was skied over the bar suggested Maidenhead’s finishing wasn’t quite there. Will Tizzard then superbly denied Joel Odeniran to stop the hosts from snatching the lead.
Odeniran then wasn’t far off with another good effort that curled away from Will Buse’s upright. Although chances for the Fleet had been restricted to that earlier header, the deadlock was broken on 37 minutes when Kennedy’s tidy pass to Peake allowed the winger to dart through the Magpies defence and fire home a low shot into the bottom right corner.
Fans were still celebrating that when the lead was doubled three minutes later. This time it was Finlay Barnes with a marvellous finish as he worked his way across the edge of the box to curl an unstoppable effort past Fiachra Pagel. There was even a chance for a third with a confident Peake driving again at the defence and Barnes firing just wide.
In added time, Buse made an important stop to protect the two-goal lead when he pushed over Connor Hall’s attempted lob that was heading in.
Maidenhead tried to raise the pressure at the start of the second period but the Fleet defence weren’t giving anything away and that let the midfield dig in. Peake looked to register his second with an effort that Pagel comfortably collected while Kwesi Appiah couldn’t keep an effort low enough when well positioned inside the area.
Like Peake, Barnes has another good shot on goal which proved difficult for Pagel whose awkward touch pushed the ball out for a Fleet corner.
That set up the third goal on 77 minutes. Peake whipped in the set piece from the right corner which was met by Camron Gbadebo at the far post who headed home.
Maidenhead grabbed a late goal back through Finely Welch after a Josh Umerah free-kick was recycled by Remy Clerima but it was too little too late for the Magpies and the comfortable victory for the Fleet booked them a spot in the Third Qualifying Round draw on Monday.
EUFC: Buse, Nelson, Tizzard, Gbadebo, Vennings (Oteh 80), Kennedy, Chapman, Peake, Box (Manktelow 67), Barnes, Appiah.
Subs: Passley, Vokins, Ogunleye, Hall
MUFC: Pagel, Clerima, Cochrane, Onariase, Johnson, Pendlebury (Umerah 75), Mitchell-Lawson, Achuba, Mantle (Robinson 57), Odeniran, Hall (Welch 65).
Subs: Dundas, Van Stappershoef
Attendance: 675
Photos: ©EUFC/Tom Harris, Ed Miller