Ebbsfleet United Match Preview
City head to Ebbsfleet United on Saturday hoping to build on the excellent win at Havant & Waterlooville two weeks ago.
They will certainly travel with more confidence than they would have done in late October when their visit to north Kent was called off due to a positive Covid test in the City squad.
They were then on a run of four defeats, including an FA Cup exit, while The Fleet had won their last seven matches and were preparing to visit Leyton Orient in the 1st Round.
A narrow defeat at Brisbane Road followed by ten goals in their next two league outings suggested that, despite the strong start to the season by their neighbours Dartford, it might be a case of the title ending up at Stonebridge Road rather than Princes Park.
However, a run of three defeats, including a recent 5-2 reverse at Dulwich and a shock penalty shoot-out defeat to Cray Wanderers in the FA Trophy, must have changed the mood.
The latter result and our own defeat to Dartford meant that both clubs had a free Saturday and so there was no need for City to make an awkward midweek trip to Ebbsfleet.
The Fleet currently sit in 4th place in the table with 28 points from their 15 matches, three behind leaders Oxford City with two games in hand. At home they have recorded five victories, including 5-1 and 6-0 wins over lowly Tonbridge and Welling, but have also suffered defeats to Havant and Maidstone.
There should be a familiar face lining up against City in Sido Jombati who played a major part in the 2009/10 promotion season and the following memorable year in the National League, making 94 appearances in total.
City’s first visit to Stonebridge Road was way back in 1947 and in 35 league matches have been victors on eleven occasions. Until 1990 their opponents were known as Gravesend & Northfleet United but by the time this fixture resumed twenty years later the club had adopted its present name.
Our away record against Ebbsfleet is two draws, two defeats and just the one win but that memorable one in 2015 will hopefully be a good omen for Saturday’s match. City travelled to Kent just a few days before Christmas having lost seven of their previous ten matches, while their opponents were well ahead at the top of the table and were firm favourites. Those City fans who were there that day, plus Jack Batten who played, will never forget Kaid Mohamed’s winner in the last minute and the deliriously happy celebrations by the dugout.
The ground at Ebbsfleet looks slightly different to our last visit ten months after the above match with the Club opening a new stand.
Those fans travelling to the match can buy their tickets in advance from the Ebbsfleet website.
The 150 mile journey will take around three hours via the M4 and M25 while the train trip from Bath Spa will take around 2.5 hours with a walk of ten minutes from Ebbsfleet International station to the ground.
Hopefully as many supporters as possible will manage to get to Stonebridge Road but remember if you cannot that there will be full commentary provided by the excellent Bath City Internet Radio station.
