With the big derby
match with Dartford coming up on Saturday, Ebbsfleet United must turn
their attentions to Bishop's Stortford on Tuesday as they look to win
their fourth league match on the bounce.
It won't be easy
for the Fleet as they travel to an in-form Stortford who sit in
fourth place in the division.
Bishop's Stortford FC
Founded - 1874
Ground – Woodside
Park
Nickname – the
Blues, the Bishops
Manager – Rod
Stringer
Last season's finish - 17th
(Conference North)
Current position - 4th
The Squad
Goalkeepers – Joe
Wright, Sam Cowler
Defenders – Johnny
Herd, Ashley Miller, Sean Francis, Callum McNaughton, George Allen
Midfielders – Anthony
Church, Matt Johnson, Reece Prestedge, Luke Milbourne, Harry Baker,
Nicky Symons, Ben Adams
Attackers – Cliff
Akurang, Kyle Vassell, George Sykes, Kyle Asante
The Form Guide
Stortford have
lost just two games this season and find themselves flying high in
fourth place, six points behind first place Eastleigh and two points
ahead of the Fleet who are in sixth. One of their losses came at home
on the opening day to Bath City, but their most recent loss came on
21 September. A 4-1 loss away at Eastbourne Borough.
Only one of
Stortford's matches this season have had less than three goals
scored; a 1-0 victory over Bromley. An average of 3.6 goals are
scored in Stortford's first ten matches played.
14 of Stortford's
21 goals scored so far have come in the second half of matches.
Last five matches
Hayes and Yeading
2-3 Bishop's Stortford – 19.10.13
Chispstead 1-6
Bishop's Stortford – FA Cup – 12.10.13
Bishop's Stortford
4-0 Gosport Borough – 05.10.13
Hendon 0-5
Bishop's Stortford – FA Cup – 29.09.13
Eastbourne
Borough 4-1 Bishop's Stortford – 21.09.13
WWWWL
Scored – 19
Conceded – 8
+9
Last time out
Hayes
and Yeading 2-3 Bishop's Stortford.
A brilliant comeback from two down ensured the Blues continued their fine start to the season at the expense of Hayes and Yeading.
Goals
from Geoff Mitchell and former Fleet loanee Louie Soares put the
hosts two up at half-time. The visitors should have reduced the
deficit before half-time, but it wasn't to be, and they more than
made up for it in the second half.
Cliff
Akurang, Anthony Church and Reece Prestedge scored for the visitors
to give them what looked to be a very unlikely victory going into
half-time! The win pushed Stortford up to 4th,
while Hayes sit in 7th.
Key players
Kyle
Vassell has been in fine form for the Blues this season, notching
eleven goals in all competitions so far. He's struck up a good
partnership with veteran striker Cliff Akurang and the Fleet will
need to keep the pair quiet if they are to get anything out of the
game.
Manager Rod
Stringer should have a near full squad to choose from.
Ebbsfleet United
The Squad
Goalkeepers –
Preston
Edwards, Brandon Hall
Defenders – Joe
Howe, Aiden Palmer, Osei Sankofa, Grant Basey, Paul Lorraine, Shane
Huke
Midfielders –
Anthony
Cook, Dominic Green, Chris Sessegnon, Dean Rance, Michael Corcoran,
Daryl McMahon, Tom Phipp, Stacy Long
Attackers – Ben
May, Billy Bricknell, Alex Osborn (on loan from Dagenham), Michael
Thalassitis (on loan from Stevenage), Andy Pugh (on loan from
Cambridge)
The form guide
The
Fleet are seven unbeaten in all competitions now, with the last six
being victories.
Last five matches
Ebbsfleet
United 2-1 Gosport Borough – 19.10.13
Ebbsfleet
United 2-0 Eastbourne Borough – FA Cup – 12.10.13
Ebbsfleet
United 3-1 Eastleigh – 08.10.13
Weston
Super-Mare 0-6 Ebbsfleet United – 05.10.13
Ebbsfleet
United 1-0 Folkestone Invicta – FA Cup – 28.09.13
Goals – 14
Conceded – 2
+12
Last time out
Ebbsfleet
United 2-1 Gosport Borough.
Goals
from Stacy Long and Ben May were enough to overcome a resilient
Gosport Borough, who slipped to the bottom of the table after this
defeat.
Stacy
Long opened the scoring after just two minutes after Ben May forced a
smart stop from the keeper. The ball fell to Long on the edge of the
area and his looping effort crept in under the bar.
Steve
Brown said in his pre-match interview that Gosport would come to
defend like many other sides have done this season, but they
certainly proved him wrong as they knocked the ball around well and
looked to get forward at every opportunity.
They
were rewarded for their efforts just after the half hour mark when
Sam Pearce's effort was deflected into the net.
The
Fleet came out for the second half and played like they wanted the
win, and they got the vital second goal when Ben May stabbed home
from five yards despite being fouled in the process. Billy Bricknell
missed a penalty soon after, but it didn't matter as the Fleet held
out to record their sixth win on the bounce and move up to sixth in
the table.
Attendance:
731
Key players
While
Stortford are fairly high scorers, they're also weak at the back and
have conceded the most out of all the top seven sides this season. That said, the Blues have conceded just three goals in four matches at Woodside Park. Ben May will be key for the Fleet in breaking down the defence and at
the other end, Preston Edwards will need to be on form to keep out
the Blues attack.
Team news
Dean
Rance returns from his one-game suspension and will look to be in the
starting line up. Striker Andy Pugh wasn't fit to play against
Gosport, but Brown has extended his loan deal for another month and
the striker could be in contention to take part on Tuesday. Grant
Basey remains on the sidelines and it is unknown whether Alex Osborn
will be able to feature. The young attacker limped off against
Gosport after taking a nasty knock to his leg. Fleet fans will be
hoping he's back soon as he's shown that he can be an asset to any
side at this level.
Previous meetings
The
first meeting between the sides came in an FA Trophy clash back in
1988; a 3-3 draw. The Fleet went on to win the replay 2-1.
The
last clash came in March 2011, a 0-0 draw at Stonebridge Road. The
last clash at Woodside Park wass in August 2010 and the Fleet ran out
3-0 winners.
Fleet wins: 5
Stortford wins: 3
Draws: 3
Last five
meetings
Ebbsfleet
United 0-0 Bishop's Stortford – Blue Square Bet South – 26.03.11
Bishop's
Stortford 0-3 Ebbsfleet United – Blue Square Bet South – 21.08.10
Gravesend
and Northfleet 2-3 Bishop's Stortford – FA Trophy replay –
15.03.05
Bishop's
Stortford 1-1 Gravesend and Northfleet – FA Trophy – 12.03.05
Bishop's
Stortford 1-3 Gravesend and Northfleet – FA Trophy – 09.10.99
Who's your money
with?
Understandably,
Stortford are slight favourites for this match.
Ladbrokes have
the Blues at 11/8 with the Fleet at 7/4. A draw for this match sees
odds of 11/5. If you fancy a repeat scoreline from August 2010 (3-0
AWAY win) then odds are a generous 28/1. If you fancy both teams to
score, then the odds for that are 4/7.
Bet Victor have
Stortford at 29/20 with the Fleet at 9/5. A draw for this is 12/5. If
you fancy a repeat scoreline from when the sides last met (0-0) then
the odds for that are 19/2.
If
you are able to attend the match then admission prices are as
follows.
Adults
- £12
Concessions
- £7
Students
- £6
Under
16s - £5
Under
12s – FREE
If
you are unable to attend the match then follow @EUFCofficial,
@BSFCatthegame or @FleetAdventures for pre-match talk, match updates
and post-match reaction.
Enjoy
the game.
Come
on you reds!
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