| TOP STORIES |  | | | | | YOUTH EDITORS | | | | | | RETRO | | | |
|
|
|
Fleet put Alty to the sword
 |
| Chris McPhee celebrates his first half goal with Michael Bostwick. |
Ebbsfleet United 2-0 Altrincham
ANOTHER relegation-threatened visiting side, another win for Liam Daish's men on Saturday afternoon at Stonebridge Road as the Fleet put in a professional performance to claim all three points against Altrincham.
It might have been the Fleet's 16th game since March 1 but with a few changes to freshen things up, the home side looked anything but lethargic as they coasted to a 2-0 victory to keep them on course to equal last season's points haul.
With Chris McPhee, Luke Moore and John Akinde part of a three-pronged attack and with a quartet of central defenders playing in the back four, there was an unfamiliar shape to Daish's side.
The Fleet began the stronger in midfield but there was little goalmouth action to speak of, with Michael Bostwick's off-target shot on 20 minutes the best either side could muster.
Immediately after that effort, Neil Barrett went closer when he manoeuvred Stacy Long's pass into space on the edge of the area and struck a shot which whistled past Stuart Coburn's right post.
Those chances sparked the Fleet into life and Moore was unfortunate to see his cross elude his team-mates after Coburn had been grounded and the delivery flew harmlessly across an empty net.
McPhee missed with a header and shot inside three minutes of each other, while Long also got into a good position but fired over. McPhee had a third chance on 35 minutes, advancing from the right into the box, but his shot was bundled away by Coburn.
Altrincham were restricted to the odd breakaway which failed to unduly upset the Fleet back four, though on 38 minutes, they should have taken the lead.
Chris Senior and Colin Little exchanged passes down the left and as the Fleet defence raced to cover, they opened a gaping hole for Greg Tansey to run into down the right.
However, his header was scrambled away by Darius Charles, who had another excellent game for the Fleet at left back.
Within two minutes, the Fleet made Alty pay.
Charles and Bostwick combined to cause confusion in the area and McPhee slid in to beat Greg Young to the loose ball which he somewhat fortuitously prodded past Coburn.
Seven minutes into the second half, and the visitors' diminutive but prolific strike force carved out a golden opportunity for an equaliser when a long pass was nodded on by Little to Senior, but he blasted over the bar from 16 yards.
Again Alty were made to pay for a missed chance as Warren Peyton made an absolute hash of a back pass to his goalkeeper, which Akinde intercepted.
But the young Fleet striker dwelt far too long on the ball with only the keeper to beat, the danger was cleared.
Much to Altrincham's chagrin it went only as far as Stacy Long who, arriving in from the edge of the box, buried a rasping drive into the back of the net.
Despite stepping up a gear and enjoying more possession, the visitors rarely found opportunities and those chances they did have were wastefully sent over the bar.
First, Little hit a shot over after Cronin fumbled and then on 57 minutes Peter Hawkins was guilty of playing keepy-uppy on the edge of his own box and Senior nipped.
But with only Cronin to beat, he skied his shot to the bemusement of the Altrincham contingent behind the goal.
Tansey also had time to sample the delights of shooting over the bar before Alty's best chance arrived on 63 minutes from a free-kick.
Greg Young rose above everyone to power a seemingly goalbound header into the bottom corner, but Cronin leapt wide to pull off an excellent mid-air save.
The energetic Ryan Shotton did get the ball into the back of the net on 75 minutes, beating Paul McCarthy to a header, but the flag was raised for offside.
After the visitors' best spell of the match had petered out, the Fleet coasted towards full-time without ever looking in much danger of letting their advantage slip.
Moore jinked into a good position on 79 minutes but his shot was blocked, while at the other end with a minute remaining, Alty could have grabbed a consolation when Shotton's header beat everyone except Darius Charles, who cleared off the line.
With the Fleet just two games from the finishing line, and having the rare luxury of only two games next week, they look to be hitting some form again to close out the season.
Ebbsfleet United: Cronin, Hawkins, Charles, McCarthy, Smith, Bostwick, Barrett (Hearn 63), Long (Purcell 87), McPhee, Akinde (Eribenne 63), Moore. Subs not used: Mott, MacDonald. Att: 911.
9:41am Monday 21st April 2008
Print 
Email this
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
