WE'RE GOING TO WEMBLEY: What a great achievement for a club like Ebbsfleet, says Daish

LIAM DAISH hailed his heroic players after they booked Ebbsfleet United’s place in their first ever Wembley Stadium final, writes Stephen McCartney.

The entire Kentish football family are so proud of the Fleet after they knocked the highest ranked club in non-league football, Aldershot Town, out of the FA Carlsberg Trophy yesterday.

Going into this second leg with a crucial two-goal lead, following their determined 3-1 win at Stonebridge Road last weekend, the Fleet withstood plenty of Aldershot pressure at a packed Recreation Ground.

A passion filled crowd of 4,344 witnessed a tense encounter and the noise vibrating out of this stadium, which should be hosting Coca-Cola League Two football in August, was something to experience.

Attack-after-attack, the Fleet, however, stood tall and a yellow brick wall protected Lance Cronin, whose first half save from Louie Soares on a one-on-one situation, proved why he’s England’s best.

And when Junior Mendes drilled a shot across Cronin and into the bottom far corner of the Fleet net after 62 minutes, you felt that our Wembley hopes were going to shatter.

But the Fleet’s heroic players were resolute and outstanding and ensured that Aldershot’s impressive play outside the penalty area didn’t trouble Cronin.

The Fleet were likely to catch Aldershot on the break, and they did exactly that in stoppage time as Michal Bostwick netted his fourth - and most important - goal of the season. The goal was timed at 47 minutes and 17 seconds.

Stacy Long broke down the left to burst into the penalty area and with everyone from Kent urging him on, his shot was blocked by goalkeeper Nikki Bull.

But step forward nineteen-year-old Bostwick, who thumped the ball into the top right-hand corner to spark wild scenes both on and off the pitch.

The Fleet knew that they we’re going to Wembley and a showpiece final against Torquay United on Saturday, 10^th May.

The Devon side actually lost 1-0 at York City, with Chris Todd scoring an own goal, but like our Kent heroes, they did the hard work at home and went through 2-1.

Understandable, Daish was a proud man, when speaking in a packed press box afterwards.

“It’s hard to put into the words the achievement of the players have done,” he told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“The games that we’ve played, against good sides, and we’ve come through it and the character today, a tough place to come, and we’ve drawn a game of football and that’s got us through to the, into dreamland. I can say it now, Wembley, we’re going there”

“Over the two games, there’s no luck really, or fortune. It’s just been sheer hard work, sheer honesty and a bit of quality.

“A different game today than last Saturday but to a man we’ve done our job and what a great achievement for a club like Ebbsfleet - it’s unbelievable.”

Daish praised his young guns, including Bostwick, 19, John Akinde, 18, Luke Moore 18, Stacy Long, 22 and George Purcell, 19.

He said: “We’ve got a young side but I’ve said to the players all those hard days in training, me coming in like a face like thunder and growling at them and telling them to go and run and come back for extra training, having a moaner, this makes it all worthwhile.

“I’ve said it before but I’ve got the utmost admiration for my players.”

Ebbsfleet United’s fans were packed into the corner of the East Bank and players and coaching staff made sure they raced over to them at the final whistle as emotions took over.

“They’ve come down and we’ve given them a day out,” Daish said. “I’m sure they’ll be even more coming to THAT game, where is it again?

“It’s given Ebbsfleet something to the community, a trip to Wembley!

“You can’t dismiss it, a lot of good teams and good players that have played higher than this level have never played at Wembley and we are and we’re going there so you can’t dismiss it - what a great achievement!

Daish, 39, has played at Wembley twice, finishing as a winning captain in Birmingham City’s 1995 Auto Windscreens Shield side and he was part of Cambridge United’s successful 1990 play-off team.

“I’ve told the players to enjoy this,” said Daish. “This will be part of their development. They’ll know what it’s about now getting to..

“Sometimes you try to explain (playing at Wembley), you can’t explain it. They can’t understand unless they’ve done it, been there themselves.

“Now that they’ve achieved that winning feeling of getting to a Wembley final, we’re going to go there and give it a right go of picking that Trophy up.”

Ebbsfleet United, sitting in tenth placed in the Blue Square Premier table, have just knocked out a side that’s running away with the title on 80 points, 13 points clear of Cambridge United.

And Daish added: “This will give the lads a bit of belief. We’ve beaten and drawn against the league leaders and not really been outplayed against the league leaders.

“We’ve got to take a lot of positives out of that and believe and maybe get into those play-off’s as well.”

Visit Ebbsfleet United’s website: www.ebbsfleetunited.co.uk