MATCH PREVIEW: Ebbsfleet United vs Chippenham Town | National League South, Sat 30th April 2022
Matt Chappell previews our upcoming away National League South tie with Ebbsfleet United
IT’S A BIG WEEKEND AHEAD for the Bluebirds, as they make the trip to The Kuflink Stadium to face third place Ebbsfleet United, in what will be the ultimate Test for Gary Horgan, Matt Coupe and the squad, who will be very wary of this forthcoming game, as they’ll be hopeful for the Win or Draw, and also hoping that results around the Play-off areas go in favour. Of course, our eyes will be firmly focused on Havant & Waterlooville against Hampton & Richmond as “The Hawks” currently sit above Chippenham with just one point, keeping the sides apart and making the face-off for the final Play-off spot, very tasty indeed!
Chippenham come into this game, off the back of two successive wins at #TheTSStadium this past week, when they beat Oxford City 1-0 and most recently won 2-0 against Dulwich Hamlet, a side who have been floating around the play-offs as well, but have fallen out of favour, with their recent run of form, not going their way at all. The match was a very entertaining one indeed, with 368 supporters packed into the ground, along with some familiar faces from Norway, of course being Bjorn and his group of Vikings making the trip over for the game, and we were very glad to see them here once again, cheering on the squad as they were “BEVARE TROEN” or Keeping the Faith for all you non-speaking Norwegians out there.
The first half saw, plenty of chances for both sides, within the early stages as Joe Hanks put Alex Bray through on goal, in the opening moments but his chance was ruled off-side. Chippenham took the lead on the half hour mark when Tom Mehew found Hanks who calmly slipped the ball past Grainger in between the sticks, Before the break, the Bluebirds created two further chances as Young cut in from the wing before again being denied by Grainger whilst Hanks’ shot appeared to be heading for the net before an on-rushing Luca Levee got back to scoop the ball over the bar.
Two minutes later Luke Russe found Jordan Young whose shot on the turn went over, a Joe Hanks corner minutes ended with Youngy again being off target before another effort from the latter was blocked. Chippenham made the game safe on eighty nine minutes as Young and Hanks exchanged passes at a corner and the latter’s ball into the box was guided home by the skipper, Kieran Parselle. In stoppage time, Will Henry pulled off a good save to deny substitute Chike Kandi whilst at the other end Russe’s side-footed shot was straight at Grainger.
Our hosts Ebbsfleet come into this game off the back of four successive wins on the bounce against Welling, Dulwich, Concord and most recently Tonbridge respectively, the Fleet currently sit 3rd place in the table on 69 points, with Dennis Kutrieb’s side more than surely qualified for the National League South play-off semi finals along with high-flying Dorking Wanderers. Ones to surely be aware of ahead of Saturday’s clash will most certainly be forwards Dominic Poleon and Rakish Bingham, who both have been ruthless in non-stop scoring for the Fleet this season. Many supporters will be surely aware of Dom Poleon, as he was the one who netted 3 goals against the Bluebirds in the reverse fixture last year, when the visitors ran out 5-2 against Chippenham, on a cold and damp Tuesday night in September 2021.
It’s surely going to be a big occasion for the #Bluebirds, and we hope to see as many of you as possible pack out The Kuflink Stadium on Saturday, if you are unable to attend the game for any reason, we will be providing official Radio Match Commentary on our Mixlr account here but if you’re up for the trip then please click here for our Away Day Information article with all the ticket and travel information you need to know.
Let’s do this #BlueArmy, let’s get behind Gary, Matt and the lads on this huge game! COME ON CHIPPENHAM!