Ebbsfleet 27/10/07

F.A Cup Qualifier

W 3-1

Attendance: 1219

Travelling up to Ebbsfleet for the 4th qualifying round of the F.A Cup we were in no-mans land, not yet officially 'in' the cup, but equally not yet 'out' of it. The journey was one to forget due to a combination of traffic, accidents and the M25. However, we were entertained by a couple of events. The first was a car being reversed down the hardshoulder after the driver missed a turnoff.

Unfortunately for them, they had missed the turn off by quite a way, and the reversing that followed was an episode of Casualty waiting to happen! The second was a performance by a model aeroplane in a nearby field. After a while the 'pilot' got slightly overconfident and sent the plane into a speedy dive. We expected that it would make a spectacular turn at the last minute and ascend once more. We can only assume that the pilot got distracted by something because the plane was never seen again.

After a brief visit to 'the pub on the corner' we made our way to the ground. We arrived at the away end at the same time as the team bus, which made one member of our group very happy. It is well known to many that a certain Mr Cozic is Marges favourite player. Despite somewhat inexplicably trying to hide from him as he got off the bus, he found her and they shared 'a moment'! Inside Stonebridge Road, we were all surprised to see that Ebbsfleet had finally decided to install some female toilets. That was the only major development of the ground, which never seems to change.

Just 11 minutes into the game City were one-nil down but there was to be no booing or abuse from the City faithful watching the Ebbsfleet celebrations in front of them. This support was repaid just nine minutes later when Mackie equalised, putting City back in the game. Later in the first half Basham won a penalty which was taken by Mackie, but saved by Cronin. Although worrying at the time, it proved not to be costly as the first ten minutes of the second half sent us flying into the first round proper! After only five minutes of the second half Matt Taylor scored a header, from a Dean Moxey free-kick, sparking jubilant scenes amongst the supporters and players. Just four minutes later we scored again to cement our place in the first round draw. The goal was a sublime header by City fans favourite Peter Hawkins, one of the best own-goals I've ever seen! That was the last goal of the game, but not the last major incident. Later Sacha Opinel, sporting hair that needs to be seen to be believed, floored Rico in the penalty area in front of both the referee and linesman. It should have come as a surprise that Sacha wasn't booked and City weren't given a penalty, but in a league where Alex Jeannin once got sent off for biting his own face, dodgy refereeing decisions have come to be expected. City played out the rest of the game comfortably and the jubilant scenes at the end marked a welcome contrast from the previous away game at Northwich. Stuck in traffic next to Bluewater the bus was filled with phones ringing as reports of the draw filtered through. News of the Salisbury or Stevanage 1st round tie did nothing to quell the somewhat forward discussions of who we were going to play in the 3rd Round. My money was on Newcastle, it's about time they played at the real St James Park!