So on a bitterly cold night a brave 1009 hardy souls are rewarded with a 3-2 extra time defeat at the hands of league rivals Ebbsfleet in a game it would appear no-one wanted to win in a meaningless competiton no-one really cares about. City lined up: Jones; Edwards, Seaborne, Richardson, Tully; Friend, Sercombe, Gill, Elam; Basham, Stansfield.

 

The game got off to a lukewarm start with neither side overly keen on taking the upper hand. Crowd spirits were lifted in the eighth minute when City took the lead - Tully fed Elam out wide on the right who in turn hit a magnificent sweeping cross for Stansfield to come steaming in from nowhere to plant a bullet header through the keeper from a few yards out with a good looking finish to make it 1-0 to City.

 

It took fully twenty minutes of turgid knockabout football for anything else to happen as Elam surged down the right before cutting in past a couple of defenders. He laid the ball back to Sercombe 25 yards out but his stinging drive had all the sting taken out of it after it hit a defender giving the keeper an easy collect.

 

The next action of any note was in the final minute when Stansfield worked the ball to Friend from the left touchline. His smart drive was blocked at source, but the ball squirmed through to the lurking Sercombe who dragged his 20 yard effort well wide.

 

After a welcome half time break, once more the 'action' was thrust upon us, this time a whole quarter of an hour elapsing before anything worth noting happened, this being the substitution of Cozic for Gill.

 

On 20 minutes we actually had a proper chance when good build up play saw the ball played to Elam on the right where he hit a sumptuous looping dipping cross into the box. Both Bash and Stansfield lunged full stretch in the middle, but alas the ball evaded both by mere millimetres and flashed away to safety. Straight after Edwards was rested and for the first time this season we saw full back Neil Martin introduced into a first team game.

 

Five minutes later Ebsfleet had their first real chance of the game with a firmly struck low drive though a sea of legs from the edge of the box that Jones did superbly well to block with his legs after seeing it late, then again on the half hour made another good save from a dipping 25 yard free kick that he did well to parry and then even better to push the well struck rebound around his near post.

On 38 minutes a fearsome drive from the edge of the box saw Jones spectacularly tip over the bar, then with mere minutes remaining the worst, and most inevitable, happened when Ebbsfleet got an equaliser after a cross from the left was knocked down for Luke Moore to prod home from close range under Jones to the groans of the crowd.

 

The groans being that we had to endure a further thirty minutes of this and then possibly penalties, although before extra time had even begun Sercombe was relieved of duties and Andy Taylor introduced in his stead. Five minutes in and the first chance fell to City, but Rico could only butt a corner straight to the keeper from 10 yards. Eight minutes later Tully set off on a storming run before sliding the ball wide to Elam, but his powerful 20 yard drive to the top corner was edged over the bar for a corner by the keeper, and that was it for the first half.

 

In the second half, given the dearth of genuine opportunities in the previous 107 minutes, it looked as though Ebbsfleet had sturck the winner when John Akinde sent a thumping header back across Jones from a far post corner into the net to make it 2-1 to Ebbsfleet, although four minutes later it was all square again as Friend's low shot just inside the box was deflected off a defender and looped up to the far post where Basham nodded in to an empty net from a few inches out to make it 2-2.

 

City looked to have taken the lead in the trenth minute when a pinging move ended up with Stansfield smashing home from less than ten yards out, but the linesman's flag was already raised for offside.

 

With less than a minute to go, and the dreaded penalties looming, Ebbsfleet won the game in bizarre fashion. A ball knocked over from the right appeared to evade half a dozen heads before Seaborne inexplicably raised an arm to punch the ball away. The ref had no hesitation - or choice - in pointing to the spot, and Chris McPhee coolly lifted the ball to the right hand side of the goal as Jones dived low to the left to make the final score 3-2 to Ebbsfleet.

 

But thank goodness someone got a winner and we were spared a further half an hour freezing while the penalties were taken. As it was, the game was one of the most turgid and dire affairs seen at the Park for an age, with both teams interested only in preserving their fitness and avoiding injuries. Pre-season friendlies have been played with more vigour, although given the esteem this competition is held in, pre-season friendlies probably hold a greater significance. I've never been happy to report on a City defeat, but in this case I'm absolutely delighted we're out of the Setanta Shield and have avoided an unnecessary fixture back log later in the season.

 

Of the players, only Jones, Seaborne and Edwards had performances of note, but let's be honest, all that really matters is that we didn't seem to pick up any injuries nor did we pick up any cards, so all in all an unwanted distraction was successfully negotiated and we can move on to the Torquay game on Boxing Day with an extra bit of match practice under our belts.