Match Report: Ebbsfleet (KSC)

Match report by Ben Austen

A first hat-trick of Deon Moore’s Maidstone career inspired the Stones to yet another Kent Senior Cup Final after comfortably dispatching Ebbsfleet United at the Semi-Final stage.

It was a very commanding performance from the lads as they played with intent right from the offset and were looking to give themselves a slight psychological advantage with a big fixture to come in the league between the two sides next Tuesday.

Despite a number of changes from Saturday’s hard fought point at Torquay, George Elokobi still wanted to go strong with a place in the final in his sights and from the off, they set the standards. Riley Court’s low free kick in the opening minutes, fell into the path of Deon Moore who got his first sight of goal but was blocked on this occasion by the face of Jonathan Macaulay in the Ebbsfleet goal.

Jephte Tanga who was sharp all evening against his former side did a lovely step over before passing to Golding whose shot forced Macauley into an uncomfortable save after a superb quick turn inside the box. Seconds later, Golding created another opportunity for himself when his low shot across goal needed a right handed save from the Fleet keeper to parry away to safety.

It wasn’t Golding’s night as unfortunately, he came off with a nasty injury after a quite awful tackle from Finlay Barnes. Before that, he had two more great chances to open the scoring. The first one being from 6 yards out after Moore showed good intelligence down the wing before playing the perfect ball across but Golding couldn’t hit the target. Moore was certainly in the mood as moments later, he cut the ball back again for Golding but couldn’t keep his shot down whilst losing his balance.

Ebbsfleet did have a small spell in the first half where they looked to threaten. Gene Kennedy hit a half volley from the edge of the box which needed tipping over the bar from Lenny Holden. From the resulting corner, Fleet played it around before finding the feet of George Moncur whose curling shot brought the best out of Holden as he pushed it around the post.

The Stones looked to take control again and just before the ref could blow his whistle for half-time, their dominance was rewarded. Moore took the ball about half the pitch, down the left hand side before making his way into the box and confidently firing across Macauley to break the deadlock.

It was a much needed goal for the Stones forward after a lot of frustration in those situations but as a striker will say ‘once you hit one, the floodgates will open.’ My word it did, as 7 minutes into the second half, Riley Court’s inch perfect cross from the right hand side fell into the path of an unmarked Deon Moore who was able to power his header from close range to double his tally for the evening.

What was a successful night for our number 9, then became a memorable one as just 3 minutes later, he was taking the match ball home as Kennedy’s awful back pass was latched onto by Moore who picked his spot and calmly finished into the bottom right hand corner to grab his hat-trick.

A tough night for our neighbours was just about to get worse with still half an hour to play when Ronny Nelson’s two footed tackle on Court resulted in the referee showing a straight red card.

Elokobi’s men took advantage of this and grabbed a 4th with just under 20 minutes to go when David Sesay found himself in an advanced position before cutting inside and seeing his shot take a crucial deflection but nestled into the back of the net for his first goal for the club.

The Stones enjoyed a fairly comfortable last 20 minutes as they ensured they kept the clean sheet and progressed into the final where they will meet one of Chatham Town, Tonbridge Angels or Gillingham.

Maidstone United: Deon Moore, 45+6’, 52’, 55’, David Sesay 72’

Ebbsfleet United:

Maidstone United: 13. Lenny Holden, 2. David Sesay, 3. Leo Hamblin, 7. Jephte Tanga, 9. Deon Moore, 10. John Gilbert (C), 12. Dajon Golding (14. Ajemanji Mbunya 39 mins), 15. David Agbontohoma, 17. Riley Court (21. Malachi Mbogba 89 mins), 23. Hamzad Kargbo, 24. Taylor Foran. Subs not used: 1. Nathan Harness, 5. George Fowler, 16. Farron Chime.

Ebbsfleet United: 25. Jonathan Macaulay, 5. Max Ehmer (C) (15. Jamie Fielding 45 mins), 9. Aaron Cosgrave, 11. George Moncur (24. Mustapha Olagunju 63 mins), 12. Ronny Nelson, 17. Lennon Peake, 18. Gene Kennedy, 19. Finlay Barnes (22. Ben Chapman 56 mins), 20. Maxx Manktelow, 23. Elijah Anthony, 26. Wes Fonguck (10. Kwesi Appiah 56 mins). Subs not used: 2. Charlie Seaman.