9th February 2008

Ebbsfleet 1-1 Exeter City

Attendance: 1617

Match Day by Kirstie Bowden 

We arrived at Ebbsfleet at 12.30 which was more than slightly annoying seeing as kick-off wasn't until 3. Not everyone enjoys drinking in pubs for hours before kick-off so a few of us decided to loiter outside the away end in the sun. Grecian the Lion was in attendance, having been the star of Westcountry Soccer Night earlier in the week. He suffered for his art however, being thrown across the room at one point by Jeff Welch. The culprit did apologise for the unprovoked assault, but only after being deafened by a chorus of boos. Grecians hair was styled in homage to my favourite non-Exeter Conference player, Sacha Opinel. Indeed, we arrived so early that we witnessed 'Le Opinel' arriving. Expecting him to turn up in some swanky Ferrari, it was slightly disappointing to see him park up in his Ford Fiesta. Still, he compensated for this by his traditionally extravagant hairstyle, perfectly offset by a bizarre pair of sunglasses!

Inside the ground events took a sinister turn. As we waited for the team to arrive I happened to turn around and see John Lee on the pitch supposedly 'putting up the East Devon Grecian flag'. Needless to say he received a 'stern' talking to from a steward and is surely now a prime candidate to be honoured by an ASBO. The team soon arrived and Marge had a 'moment' with Bertie. News obviously hadn't filtered back to him of Marge's earlier conversation with Colin our driver where she referred to him as "My darling Colin", telling him that "the heating is still on my sweet one". Those in hope of a nice reasonably priced burger before kick-off were to be disappointed when faced with the £5 price tag. I'd like to think that this pricing had more to do with a bread roll and burger shortage than mere capitalist profiteering by Ebbsfleet. I can but dream!

The game kicked off in glorious sunshine which bathed the away supporters, in excess of 400, who stood on the uncovered away terrace. It soon became clear that the Ebbsfleet team had subscribed to the 'Tim Sills School of Staying Upright' with their diving exploits rewarded by a succession of dodgy free kicks and Exeter yellow cards given by a decidedly dodgy referee. I tire of repeatedly referring to the inadequacy of the officials in this league but I'm sure that those who watch City week in, week out, home and away will concur that their capabilities leave a lot to be desired.

After going behind to an Ebbsfleet penalty in the first half, City appeared back out on the pitch for the second half a good 5 minutes early. Their eagerness to start playing again paid off in the 50th minute when Matt Gill equalised, a rare goal for the former skipper. An even rarer event occurred for travelling supporters soon after when on looking left we saw a boat sail down the Thames! Somewhat annoyingly Sacha was playing particularly well. We could do with him in our team for both his playing ability and hairstyle. We have a long tradition of having an 'interesting' hairstyle in the team, and that position has been vacant since Jon Challinors departure! The rest of the game was a tense affair as both teams had opportunities to settle the tie. The final score however remained at 1-1, a fair and good result for both teams. Leaving the ground, avoiding the numerous potholes, City fans were left wondering not how City didn't come away with 3 points, but when exactly Ebbsfleet will get round to resurfacing their car park....

BBC Match report and Information 

Ebbsfleet were left to rue a string of missed chances against play-off rivals Exeter City.

Fleet took the lead from the penalty spot through Chris McPhee.

But Luke Moore wasted an excellent chance to make it 2-0 and Grecians goalkeeper Andy Marriott also made a smart save to deny Stacy Long.

And Exeter made them pay just after the break when Matthew Gill, who had earlier gone close with a long-range strike, stabbed in the equaliser.

Ebbsfleet United: Cronin, Ricketts, Smith, McCarthy, Opinel, McPhee, Bostwick (Eribenne 69), Barrett, Long, Akinde, Moore.

Subs Not Used: French, Coleman, Purcell, Bull.

Booked: Barrett.

Goals: McPhee 18 pen.

Exeter: Marriott, Tully, Matthew Taylor, Seaborne, Edwards, Carlisle, Gill, Andrew Taylor, Moxey, Stansfield, Basham (Friend 46).
Subs Not Used: Jones, Elam, Cozic, Logan.

Booked: Gill, Matthew Taylor, Moxey, Carlisle.

Goals: Gill 50.

Att: 1,617

Ref: D Coote (Newark).