Match report
With two Sammy Moore goals, the first 10 seconds from the end of stoppage time and the second 10 seconds into added time at the end of extra time, the Dons scraped past Ebbsfleet and into the Second Round of the FA Cup for the first time.
It’s fair to say that Ebbsfleet United fans will be hoping that the next time they face AFC Wimbledon at Stonebridge Road the referee sees fit to add on only three minutes. Last season’s Blue Square Premier clash saw Ross Montague head a 95th-minute equaliser to give the Dons a thoroughly deserved equaliser, but on this night the home side’s agony was doubled as the Dons equalised with the last meaningful kick of time added on for stoppages at the end of the 90, and then repeated the trick with virtually the last kick of extra time to deflate the home side and deny the fans-run club a healthy TV payday. It was hard not to feel sorry for Liam Daish and his men, but the thousand or so Dons fans did their best to look pleased.
A game that veered between the extraordinary and the mundane began in heart-stopping fashion for the Dons when a defensive mix-up after just eight seconds saw Tom Phipp lob Seb Brown from the edge of the area, but Ismail Yakubu cleared the weakly struck effort. No more than a minute later Ebbsfleet were denied again, this time when Brown pushed Michael West’s low drive away for a corner. And before the Dons could get their thoughts together, another mix-up, this time between Andre Blackman and Fraser Franks, presented Callum Willock with a chance he wasted.
Fortunately, with only eight minutes gone, the Dons put their troubles behind them and took the lead with their first meaningful attack. Ryan Jackson outstripped Derek Duncan down the right flank, and Rashid Yussuff headed his superb cross back across Preston Edwards’ goal for Mark Nwokeji to comfortably head home his first Wimbledon goal.
The Dons’ lead lasted just four minutes, and within ten minutes they were behind. First Phipp fell inside the box under a challenge from Blackman, and referee Hill pointed to the spot for what was a rather debatable penalty. There was no debate about Ashley Carew’s spot-kick, though, and the home side were level.
Carew had been ridiculously sent off at Kingsmeadow (and had served his ban in the meantime), but with less than 20 minutes gone he was beginning to see what “the romance of the FA Cup” was all about. Sam Hatton slipped as he tried to head a deep cross away and ended up chesting the ball to Carew from on the deck. Carew’s first-time snap-shot looped off the ascending Hatton and ballooned over Brown and into the far corner of the net.
Ebbsfleet now sensed that they had Wimbledon on the rack, and an inexplicable mistake by Yakubu almost presented the impressive Carew with his hat-trick, but Brown denied him with a smart low save. The game now settled down into one of its mundane periods, although worryingly the Dons were almost caught out by three long balls over the top that the pacy Ricky Shakes failed to make the most of. Yussuff and Danny Kedwell both came close, and Ranbir Marwa tested Brown’s reflexes, but a half that had started with a flurry of activity ended with both sides giving the ball away at will.
With Paul Lorraine and Clint Easton shackling Kedwell, sometimes almost literally, it was left to Blackman to be the Dons most potent attacking threat at the beginning of the second half. Twice the left-back bamboozled Craig Stone as he weaved into the penalty area, and his second foray should have seen the Dons equalise, but Kedwell could only sidefoot Blackman’s low driven cross over the bar from six yards. Jackson was now coming more and more into the game, and if Steven Gregory’s passing had been more accurate the speedy winger would have been in great positions to cross on several occasions – but time and again Gregory found his former team-mate Duncan with underhit passes.
Ebbsfleet threatened sparingly as the half wore on, with Marwa and West failing miserably with long-range efforts as Brett Johnson, on for Fraser Franks at half-time, gave the Dons some added steel at the back and reduced the Fleet to pot-shots. Shakes did wriggle free on one occasion, but Yakubu timed his tackle to perfection.
With time running out, the Dons then had three good shouts for penalties turned down within the space of ten minutes. Lorraine got away with what appeared to be a clear handball, but that paled into insignificance in the face of Easton’s double-handed block to deny Yussuff after Sammy Moore’s set-up. Moore had been having a quiet evening until then, but it wasn’t to last for long. Luke Moore had replaced Nwokeji with ten minutes to go, and the former Stonebridge Road favourite injected some much-needed pace to the Dons’ left. Blackman hobbled off, Ricky Wellard came on in midfield and Yussuff dropped back.
With 3 minutes and 50 seconds of the 4 minutes added time played, and with the Dons seconds away from a disappointing FA Cup exit, Wellard found Luke Moore in space, and he cut in to send over an inch-perfect cross to the far post. Sammy Moore beat Lorraine to the ball and flicked it past Edwards with the outside of his right foot to send the Dons fans wild. There was just time for Ebbsfleet to kick off, and it was game – or at least normal time – over.
Ebbsfleet’s fitness was never in question, but for the first ten minutes of the first period of extra time they finally looked like part-timers. Shakes and Willock looked leggy, Carew had already been subbed, replacement Howe lacked Carew’s presence in the centre of the action, and West was also looking past his best. However, try as they might, the Dons couldn’t find a way past the Fleet back line. Kedwell and Gregory came close with thumping drives, and Luke Moore was denied by a superb Edwards save as the half drew to a close with the sides still level.
Remarkably, it was the home side who looked more lively in the second extra period, as Marwa again tested Brown, and Garath Williams’s fresh legs began to trouble Yakubu. However, as an almost chance-free half drew to a close, and both sides were steeling themselves for a penalty shoot-out, the Dons launched one more attack. Gregory’s shot from the edge of the box looped up off Easton’s shins, and as the Fleet defence stood and watched, Sammy Moore brought the ball down and slotted it past Edwards, with the Fleet keeper appealing for offside.
The goal stood, the players celebrated, the supporters behind the goal went crazy, and commentator and former Don John Fashanu leapt from the ESPN cabin and ran down the touchline celebrating as if he’d scored the goal himself, amid scenes of unbridled joy. For the second time in the match there were just enough seconds still on the clock for Ebbsfleet to kick off again. They won a corner, but referee Hill blew for full time as the Dons cleared the ball to send them through to a Second Round clash with Stevenage, live on ITV next Saturday lunchtime.
Ebbsfleet were devastated, but if it’s any consolation they looked like a Blue Square Bet Premier side in waiting, and in Carew they possess one of the best midfield players outside the Football League.
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62) Ashley Carew