Ebbsfleet United 1-6 Luton Town - It's my worst result in five years - and it hurts, admits Daish

Saturday 20th March 2010

EBBSFLEET UNITED 1-6 LUTON TOWN
Blue Square Premier
Saturday 20th March 2010
Paul Parkinson reports from Stonebridge Road

A stunning six-goal second half at Stonebridge Road saw Luton Town strengthen their play-off ambitions with their fifth successive victory, while deepening the relegation worries for Ebbsfleet United.

Quite how Ebbsfleet had gone in at half-time with a lead, despite not having a shot in anger, then capitulated so completely was beyond manager, Liam Daish.

Talking afterwards to BBC Radio Kent and www.kentishfootball.co.uk, he said, “I didn‘t see that coming to be fair, but two goals in quick succession after the break have asked real questions of our character and today we didn‘t have that character.

“We‘ll find out now who our strong men are, who the characters are, who wants to put things right quickly; this is where you find out about people. It‘s the worst result in the five years I‘ve been here, it hurts.””

A scrappy first half, where the only real quality came from Hatters‘ left winger Jake Howells, was typified by wild efforts from Claude Gnakpa and Moses Ashikodi; the latter‘s effort almost clearing the car park behind the terracing. Even the incidents leading to the goal that gave Ebbsfleet their lead on 23 minutes, had to be seen to be believed.

Leon Crooks hooked a long free kick from Jordan Collins back into the 6-yard box and Stefan Bailey had the chance to finish, but missed his attempted bicycle kick. Luton goalkeeper, Mark Tyler cleared quickly and Gavin Heeroo‘s powerful header seemed to be heading safely back to Tyler, but as the keeper rushed out, Janos Kovacs decided to divert the header straight into the corner of the net, with Tyler scrambling back helplessly.

If the first half was all huff and puff, some of the attacking play from Luton in the second half was clinical.

Even Daish expected a certain reaction from the visitors, “At 1-0 down, they‘ve come out to win the next tackle, the next header, they‘ve got to get back in the game as quick as possible. It was a little bit of men against boys in the second half.””

The visitors turned the game around to lead within 5 minutes of the restart, with 2 goals 71 seconds apart. After a string of corners that were not defended comfortably, Gnakpa powered home a header for the first of an impeccable hat-trick, then veteran striker, Kevin Gallen, drilled a shot across Lance Cronin in off the post, from a poor defensive header.

Before converting the third on 65 minutes, Tom Craddock should have extended the lead, latching onto the pass of the day from Gnakpa, but Craddock‘s first time volley flew over the bar.

But the forward made amends, volleying home Howell‘s pinpoint cross from the left, after tenacious play by Gallen released the winger.

Gallen should have sealed the game, drawing a good save out of Cronin as the Ebbsfleet players started to lose their discipline, but Gnakpa converted two chances in under a minute to claim his hat-trick.

The first was a glancing header, having cut in from the right across Collins to convert another Howells cross, then slamming the ball home from close range after Cronin and Darius Charles had combined to deny a Simon Heslop shot.

After a flurry of substitutions, Cronin did well to block a Howells shot with his legs, before Ashikodi, looking to extend a scoring run of six consecutive matches, dragged Ebbsfleet‘s one real shot across the face of the Luton goal.

But deep in stoppage time, subsitute Matthew Barnes-Homer out-muscled Charles before calmly slotting his shot past Cronin to complete the rout.

Daish was in a reflective mood at the end of the game. “Obviously after the first half, I didn‘t see the second half coming like that. But, to find yourself 2-1 down, which isn‘t the end of the world, it looked like we felt sorry for ourselves very quickly and Luton were right on the front foot.

“We knew they would come out quickly at us, and I made it clear that the first 10 minutes or so would be important, that we had to clear our lines properly.

“But we‘ve played too much in front and two of the goals have come from our free kicks, where it‘s been easily defended then they are straight at our back 4.”

“We should have been buoyed by our goal; we were comfortable, played well and competed. Second half, from the first whistle, and a couple of wrong decisions that led up to the first goal and we‘ve given them a couple of goals.

“It was a game of two halves and they‘ve come out on the front foot, been strong and we didn‘t show enough of that today. We didn‘t get the ball into the right areas, we didn‘t get the ball in behind and made their centre-halves look like world beaters.”

“There‘s a reason we‘re in this position. Every now and then we‘ll get a result but at this time of the season, week-in, week-out, you need consistency. Sometimes we fall flat on that.

“We need to delve deep and show real character, strength of mind, strength of body. We need to go into games and if we‘re ahead at half-time, we need to get out on the front foot and not wait for the ball to come to us. That‘s where we‘ve got to be stronger, more physical, and wear teams down.”

With only five games left, two of which, against fellow strugglers Eastbourne Borough and Gateshead, are at Stonebridge Road, Daish knows that the lack of a game next week (due to Chester‘s expulson from the Conference) could see his side firmly entrenched in the drop-zone.

He added: “What will happen when we go into our next game, is that a number of teams around us will have played games and we‘ll have a good idea of what the score is, with them catching up their games in hand.

“As I said, it‘s disappointing today, a missed opportunity to take the bit of fortune that came our way with the goal, but too many heads dropped.”

Ebbsfleet United: Lance Cronin, Jordan Collins, Gavin Heeroo, Magno Vieira (Scott Ginty 78), Moses Ashikodi, Alexander Stavrinou (Ishmael Welsh 78), Ricky Shakes, Leon Crooks, Stefan Bailey, Darius Charles, Peter Holmes.

Subs: Will Salmon, Michael West, Kane Wills.

Goal: Janos Kovacs 23 (own goal)

Booked: Gavin Heeroo 45, Ricky Shakes 66, Moses Ashikodi 69

Luton Town: Mark Tyler, Ed Asufu-Adjaye, Janos Kovacs (Shane Blackett 84), George Pilkington, Freddie Murray, Keith Keane, Simon Heslop, Claude Gnakpa, Jake Howells, Tom Craddock, Kevin Gallen (Matthew Barnes-Homer 81).

Subs: Shane Gore, Asa Hall, Adam Newton.

Goals: Claude Gnakpa 48, 75, 76, Kevin Gallen 50, Tom Craddock 65, Matthew Barnes-Homer 90.

Booked: Matthew Barnes-Homer 90, Tom Craddock 90

Attendance: 1,923

Referee: Mr Rob Whitton (Chelmsford, Essex)

Assistants: Mr Neil West and Mr Tim Moffat

Fourth Official: Mr Robert Smith