Ebbsfleet United 2-1 Burton Albion - Fleet are the life and Sole of the party

The Fleet, who went into this game sitting fourth-from bottom in the Blue Square Premier table due to inactivity, dominated the entire game, apart from a five minute period early in the second half when Burton striker Greg Pearson scored his 20^th goal of the season to grab an undeserved equaliser.

A stunning 20-yard free-kick - and a second half penalty - from striker Guiseppe Sole - ensured the Kent side sealed a deserved victory to climb up four places to seventeenth place in the table, ahead of their trip to Broadhall Way.

Burton Albion arrived in Kent with an eight point lead on Cambridge United, but on this occasion the elements couldn’t save them.

The Fleet carried on the form that saw them beating the league leaders 1-0 before the televised game was abandoned due to snow, when the two sides last met at Stonebridge Road four weeks ago.

And had it not been for veteran goalkeeper Kevin Poole, who made three fine first half saves, then the margin of victory would have been far greater.

Once again, it was one of those determined Ebbsfleet displays, which made the league leaders look very ordinary.

After Burton’s Jamie Yates was penalised for handball, Poole made his first fine save after just eleven minutes.

Sole’s right-footed free-kick on the angle, arrowed towards the far post and this was met by a powerful header from Michael Gash, who was denied by a fine save by the goalkeeper at his near post.

With the Fleet playing well, Burton created a half chance in the 18^th minute when Pearson met Tony James’ free-kick from the half-way line with a glancing header, which bounced comfortably into Lance Cronin’s arms.

Poole was called into action again seven minutes later as he dived full length to his left to turn John Martin’s angled right-footed drive from 25-yards around the post.

Burton’s best chance arrived on the half-hour mark, courtesy of Fleet midfielder Stacy Long losing possession in Burton’s half.

A driving run from Yates through the middle found 16-goal striker Shaun Harrard in space and after cutting inside his driven shot was blocked by Cronin’s legs.

However, Burton could have few complaints when Ebbsfleet United deservedly took the lead with 33 minutes on the clock.

Sole was upended by Michael Simpson on the edge of the penalty area and the former Woking striker stepped up and cracked a right-footed free-kick from 20-yards over the five-man wall and into the top left hand corner, leaving Poole rooted to the spot.

Burton’s Marc Goodfellow fired a shot into the side netting after he charged down the left-hand side, but you expected more from the league leaders.

Poole made his third save to prevent one of his own defenders from scoring an own goal.

Luke Moore and Mark Ricketts combined down the right and the latter cut the ball back to the impressive John Martin and his cross skidded off Jake Buxton’s head and this forced Poole into tacking drastic action, diving to his right, to turn the ball away.

However, all the Fleet’s hard work during the first half, appeared to have been undone inside the first four minutes of the second half.

The Fleet defence failed to pick up Pearson inside the penalty area and the striker glanced his header, from Yates’ excellent cross from the right, past a flat-footed Cronin and into the far corner of the net.

Expecting Burton to go on and win the game, the Fleet brave hearts brushed themselves down from that set-back and proved that they are not relegation fodder.

Another heroic performance ensured three sides of Stonebridge Road got behind their team.

Sole went close with another free-kick, which he stroked over the five-man wall, but the ball dipped just over Poole’s crossbar, and then on the hour-mark, Moore’s right-wing cross was flicked on by Gash at the near post and Stacy Long, lurking at the far post, volleyed the ball into Poole’s grateful arms.

Gash should have found the target when he exchanged passes with Sole, but sent his shot over, but the Kent side deservedly bagged the winner with 69 minutes on the clock.

Burton disputed the decision to award the Fleet a penalty after Andy Corbett was adjudged to have handled Neil Barrett’s centre from the left.

But with Fleet boss Liam Daish admitting he doesn’t watch penalties, he turned his back on the action, but knew Sole had scored the winner as his assistant Alan Kimble jumped on his back and the loyal home faithful were celebrating yet another big scalp.

The Fleet grew stronger to protect their lead for the remainder of the game, although Moore should have done better with a driving run through the heart of the Burton defence.

A delighted Daish, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards, explained why he doesn’t watch penalties in real time.

“Well, I don’t watch penalties, it’s something that I never did as a player,” he said. “I’d look at the home fans or behind the goalkeeper and see what their reaction was and it just carried on with me.”

When told that the penalty was a good strike, Daish replied, “I’m sure it was and I’ll watch it on the DVD later, but I’ve just got this thing of not watching penalties.”

Daish knew the importance of climbing out of the relegation zone, although his side have many games in hand on every other side in the division, except for Kettering Town.

“It’s a great result for us,” he said. “It was a tough game, but I thought the lads were tremendous.

“We started a little bit slow but obviously finished very strong again. We needed that, a home win, and four points out of the two home games, we’ll settle for that.”

Daish paid tribute to his players for putting in a performance to be proud of.

“That’s credit to the players for their hard work, their desire to close people down and unsettle them and to be fair, play some good football on the way," he said.

“It’s a great performance against a very good side, who are destined for league football next year."

He added, "I think everyone played their part.”

Daish heaped plenty of praise on Gash, although he admitted he wasn’t best pleased with Sole’s performance, at first.

Praising Gash, Daish said, “It’s as good as a centre forward performance you’d see at this level and I think he’s coming of age now.

“It sounds like I’m trying to sell him, but he is becoming a real handful for defenders and does a lot of work up there on his own.”

Commenting on Sole, the boss added, “And to be fair, I wasn’t quite happy with Gez’s performance. I thought there was more in him but he’s one of those players that you get in and around the box on the ball, whether it’ll be a free-kick, he’s going to cause damage.

“That’s four goals he’s scored for us. You have those players with a little bit of quality around and you’ve got to get the ball into them and into the right areas and say now its down to you!

“You give them a platform to let those players work their bit of magic.”

The defensive partnership of skipper Darius Charles and Leon Crooks will be vital against Stevenage
Borough - and the rest of their hectic league campaign.

“There was a little bit of concern that it (Burton’s goal) might have been offside, but they’ve scored goals right throughout the season so they’ve got quality players and that can happen," said Daish.

“But I think we took the destiny right into our own hands again. We didn’t let our disappointment (get the better of us), a bit like the Wrexham (FA Trophy) game.

“They got back into it, but we were calm, composed, our two centre halves snuffed them out and we were nice and strong and asked them questions.”

Thankfully, the Fleet were only in the drop zone for 24 hours.

And Daish added, “I didn’t like that, I didn’t like that feeling of being in the bottom four and we’ve moved out there.

“There’s still some games in hand and I think a lot of clubs around us would have seen us play one of our games in hand and (hoped that we did) not get anything.

“But that’s a massive three points against a top side and we’ll take a lot of confidence and belief out of that.

“We’ve slipped into the bottom four, (which wasn’t) really our fault if you like because on Sunday (against York) that was our first league game completed since the 27^th of January.

“Now, I don’t care who you are, if you don’t play your games, you’re going to drop places.”

Ebbsfleet United: Lance Cronin, Sacha Opinel, Leon Crooks, Darius Charles, Mark Ricketts, Stacy Long (Derek Duncan 81), John Martin, Neil Barrett, Luke Moore, Michael Gash, Guiseppe Sole (Danny Slatter 85).
Subs: James Smith, Kezie Ibe, Ricky Shakes, Derek Duncan.

Goals: Guiseppe Sole 33, 69 (pen)

Booked: Mark Ricketts 70

Burton Albion: Kevin Poole, Aaron Webster, Jake Buxton, Tony James, Andy Corbett, Marc Good fellow (Darren Stride 81), John McGrath, Michael Simpson, Jamie Yates, Greg Pearson (Danny Holmes 68), Shaun Harrad (Jon Newby 88).
Subs: Saul Deeney, Ryan Austin.

Goal: Greg Pearson 49

Booked: Marc Goodfellow 78

Attendance: 711 (35 away supporters)
Referee: Mr John Farries
Assistants: Mr Michael Smith & Mr Andrew Parker
Fourth Official: Mr Paul Harris