City v. Ebbsfleet

Sounds like a well won point, bottle from young Kelly to take the pen. Whitehawk fightback to beat Dartford 4-2 from 1-2 means we drop a place. Very tight.

Very good performance again with everyone putting in a shift. Now, if we could just be a yard quicker and get on the end of some of those crosses that went begging.........

Bonus point today. Incredibly tight table. 10 to go and some winnable games ahead. Another nervous night ahead on Tuesday

Yes, a bonus but well deserved although I couldn't see where a goal was coming from. Now that's the way to take a penalty! A great defensive display again, especially considering Taylor had to be subbed so early.

What a great game to watch today , with excellent refereeing, must be one of the best referees this season .Everyone played so well it was difficult to pick a man of the match .For me today it would have been Andy Gallinagh , was definately one of his best performances this season .The only thing we lacked was the ability to score , again ! We play so well through the game but don't have the cutting edge we need .Lets hope the new lad on loan makes a difference.

Yes. Gallers used to run at people when he first came. His run past 3 players before being upended was moment of the match for me. He went at hell of a speed. Perhaps an indication of improved fitness levels in the squad?

I was worried about today. The Gosport Borough one could be seen as a bad day at the office against a top 4 team if Owers put it right but, even with Ebbsfleet being rich and at the top of the table, a loss today could have derailed our good run. A win would have been magnificent but a well-deserved draw was very welcome. Let's get some home wins against the teams around us and maybe some more away draws and we will be OK.

I particularly enjoyed the way the Ebbsfleet players suddenly started rushing to take throw ins and goal kicks after we scored. It was hilarious.

Bridgeyate wrote:What a great game to watch today , with excellent refereeing, must be one of the best referees this season .Everyone  played so well it was difficult to pick a man of the match .For me today it would have been Andy Gallinagh , was definately one of his best performances this season .The  only thing we lacked was the ability to score , again ! We play so well through the game but don't have the cutting edge we need .Lets  hope the new lad on loan makes a difference.

I agree that Gallinagh (or possibly Billy Murphy, or Chas) could have won Man of the Match. The Chronicle picked Chas!
Isn't it nice to have the dilemma of who to choose!

Still got the same old problem of strikers reluctant to shoot. Will be good to have Richards back. Just a short trip for the Plymouth loanee to get to Truro on Tuesday (if he recovers from the illness mentioned in the Chronicle's match report...)!

Perhaps we could've had a penalty in the 1st half when Watkins was being held, and Pratt should've done better from Watkins' shot.
Did anyone have a good view of the Phillips incident? I got the impression he got awfully close to carrying the ball out of his area.

Feeling positive about staying up!

Agree that for the first time in a while it was difficult to pick a motm because of too many candidates rather than not enough.

I felt Kelly deserved it (though know eminent member of this board who doesn't agree!) as it was by far his best game for us. But agree that Chas had a strong case (he appears finally to be recapturing the form of the middle part last season) along with Gallers and Watkins.

Someone I was speaking to after the game (the aforementioned Kelly non-fan) said Phillips clearly carried the ball out of the box but the linesman had already moved up the pitch so didn't see it.

Apart from probably the Havant 5-0 I thought it was the best performance of the season but we clearly need to turn a few of these draws into wins sooner than later.

As for Ebbsfleet, they look like a team feeling the pressure of being champions-elect but even though Sutton and Maidstone have sufficient games in hand to catch up I can't see them winning them all (both drawing as well yesterday) so they should hold on. If they were caught by one or the other though they could be in trouble. They've got to play Sutton in their last away game which could be interesting.

Excellent, and agree with a lot of the above comments. One thing I did notice is that a lot of our crosses and free kicks went straight to their keeper.  It would be better if eg Frankie, with his left foot, took free kicks on the left hand side, in order to make the ball curl away from the keeper, rather than on the right hand side, where they curl in towards the keeper.  
Also, the goal at Havant came from a near post corner, where Dave Pratt headed the ball across and Watkins headed it in. I don't think we have had a near post header since then.  They can create havoc for the opposition defence.
I thought that the ref showed how easy it is to stop players cheating in various ways as long as you blow the whistle early in the game, rather than 'letting things go' in order to see if they improve. It was pretty obvious that their lovely keeper was re-tying his bootlaces early in the game just to annoy the City fans, and he succeeded, but the ref spoke to him immediately and he didn't waste any more time, even when they took the lead.
I had decided that 1 point from the Gravesend and Truro games would be OK.  So an extra point on Tuesday will be a bonus.  There are some really important games on Tuesday for all the bottom sides, so I hope that Hayes, Chelmsford and the Mud don't win. Then we need to beat Bishops Stortford on Saturday.  
Disappointing crowd, but people have got so disillusioned, and it takes time to get them back.   The 1000BC team is doing a very good job on this, with loads of posters, newsletters etc, and the filming.

sned wrote:
Did anyone have a good view of the Phillips incident? I got the impression he got awfully close to carrying the ball out of his area.

I didn't have the greatest angle but have to say I thought he carried it outside. I'm sure he pretty much stepped back inside as well.

In the long run that could be a priceless point although putting the ball in the net is a big problem with our ongoing injury list.Thought Danny Greenslade was outstanding and has really started to show what he can offer. Not that impressed with the 2 Ebbsfleet fans I spoke to afterwards. One reluctantly shook my hand before grumbling something whilst the other one banged on about the handball, how the ref was a homer and that we didn't deserve anything from the game. When I tried to engage said fan in a reasoned debate he got all lairy and said "At least we are going up unlike your lot" Think Ebbsfleet are feeling the pressure a tad!!!

They should be going up with that squad! As I quoted on another thread, they had four players missing and still the likes of Kissock, Sheringham and Parkes were on the bench. That's one very creative player, someone whose goalscoring record at this level is decent (although he hit the bar from six yards before the goal) and the best player in this league last season.

Huge number of players. I saw them get off the coach, and welcomed their keeper, and after the first 15 players had got off, plus directors, I assumed that the driver would close the door. At least another dozen players got off the coach. They'll soon need a double-decker

sirkev wrote:Not that impressed with the 2 Ebbsfleet fans I spoke to afterwards. One reluctantly shook my hand before grumbling something whilst the other one banged on about the handball, how the ref was a homer and that we didn't deserve anything from the game. When I tried to engage said fan in a reasoned debate he got all lairy and said "At least we are going up unlike your lot" Think Ebbsfleet are feeling the pressure a tad!!!

They sound like those I engaged with at their place after Kaid's winner. You should have asked your new friends how many points they had taken off of us this season! To be fair, the Ebbsfleet fans in the stand yesterday were better humoured, even after our late equaliser. Mind, by then they were probably suffering severe headaches having sat near our number one motivator - what a legend Alan Frayling is!

Finally we have a penalty taker

Albeit for another month..

comrade powell wrote:Mind, by then they were probably suffering severe headaches having sat near our number one motivator - what a legend Alan Frayling is!

Used to play with / against him fifty years ago at the Rich's farm, Sunday afternoons, on a pitch that was a sloping field with 5-a-side goals.  He had a very powerful shot and like Chas was strong on the ball.

Andy Gallinagh was great yesterday, best he has played for a long time. The other 3 at the back were also very good. Gallinagh is not a left back, noticed before when he has switched to right back he also looks a lot better.
Think Kelly is a great little player and cannot understand why anyone would not like him. It took some bottle for a lad of his age to take that penalty and crack it home in the circumstances - last few minutes to save the game, our penalty record, Ashmore etc.

He has greatly improved from his first few performances when he hardly got a kick. Another instance of needing to get match fit - the reason he is here.

Greenslade is a great left back.