Ebbsfleet land late sucker punch after Maidenhead United fail to take their chances

Photo credit: Maidenhead United

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Maidenhead United 0, Ebbsfleet United 1

Maidenhead United fans will feel they've been there, done that, and got the t-shirt after watching their side miss a host of good chances only to lose late on to Ebbsfleet United at York Road on Tuesday evening.

This was a script they've read many times before, and often against Ebbsfleet at York Road in fact, with the Magpies managing just one win in 10 outings against their league rivals from Kent.

Again, this was a match the Magpies should have won, but they let their opponents off the hook towards the end of the first half when several good chances to take the lead came and went.

Twice they hit the frame of the goal through Ashley Nathaniel-George and Casey Pettit, while Shawn McCoulsky saw his first-time effort hacked off the goal line when it looked certain the net would finally bulge.

They continued to pose a threat throughout the second half, without carving their visitors open quite so easily, but there was still a sense of inevitability about substitute Dominic Samuel's late winner for Fleet.

The home side were starting to look like they'd maybe run out of ideas, and it felt like the game was drifting towards another goalless draw, when Franklin Domi wriggled his way past a couple of half-hearted challenges on the edge of the box and slipped a ball through that was deflected into the path of Samuel who finished unerringly past Craig Ross.

The Magpies had little time to respond, however, they did create one last opportunity for Pettit that he scooped wide in stoppage-time.

A lack of goals has been to blame for Maidenhead's lack of progress in recent weeks. They've managed just one goal in their last six matches - that coming in the 1-0 win over Kidderminster Harriers before Christmas - and a solution simply must be found if they're to keep their noses out of trouble. They remain five points outside the bottom four but have slipped from the relative security of mid-table to 18th place in recent weeks.

Ebbsfleet arrived at York Road occupying the final relegation spot in the National League but would haul themselves out of the bottom four by the end of the night. They began reasonably brightly with Rakish Bingham forcing Craig Ross into an early save.

There was also a tale of two free kicks in the first half, one which Reece Smith swept well over the bar for the Magpies and another, from Omari Sterling James that appeared to bounce off the post, with Ross scrambling to his right to keep it out.

Maidenhead looked like a side that hadn't played for a couple of weeks, while Fleet looked sharp in the opening half hour, but that all changed when Nathaniel-George cannoned an effort off the crossbar in the 31st minute. For the rest of the half, it was all Maidenhead. Sam Barratt won the ball back well and played in Smith down the right of Fleet's defence. He centred for McCoulsky on the penalty spot, but with the whole goal to aim for but his low effort was cleared off the line by a covering defender. The ball came back to him, but he couldn't adjust his feet in time before being crowded out. It felt like a gilt-edged chance had come and gone, but another would follow before the interval.

This time, in the 42nd minute, Pettit seized on a poor clearance and, with the goal opening in front of him, rolled his shot against the foot of the post with Mark Cousins well beaten.

Maidenhead supporters were scratching their heads and wondering how they weren't in front at the interval and that sense of foreboding grew as half-chances continued to be spurned in the second half. The Magpies peppered the Fleet penalty area with shots and crosses, while the game was broken up by clumsy, or cynical, Fleet fouls.

Smith saw a shot from just outside the area pushed behind by Cousins while substitute Chanka Zimba missed a great chance to make it 1-0 with his first touch, heading over the bar from a Zico Asare cross in the 79th minute.

Ebbsfleet had also threatened sporadically, with Sterling James forcing Ross into a low save in the 55th minute and Craig Tanner deflecting another cross into the arms of Ross just after the hour mark. Sam Beckwith also made a crucial block from Sterling James,

However, they eventually made one of those counter attacks count when two of the substitutes Domi and Samuel combined to fire the visitors ahead in the 82nd minute.

The result leaves the Magpies 18th in the table ahead of Saturday's home game with fourth-placed Solihull Moors, however, United should take heart from having produced one of their best displays of the season to beat Moors 2-1 away from home in November.