110 Great Goals: Ebbsfleet United National League South Champions

Words: Sam Wainwright

Images: Sam Wainwright

“Satisfied”.

This is the one word CEO Damian Irvine uses to sum up what has been an incredible season for Ebbsfleet United.

From the torment of last term, where they were beaten with essentially the last kick of the game in the National League South play-off final against Dorking Wanderers, to winning the league by 20 points over their closet rivals Dartford this season.

What a difference a year makes: 110 Goals and 103 points.

Ebbsfleet United, for those that don’t know, is a club based in Northfleet, Kent. Up until 2007 they were known as Gravesend and Northfleet but their name was changed with the building of Ebbsfleet International station which is a couple of minutes walk away.

‘Cheer Cheer here come the Fleet!’

©Sam Wainwright/ Terrace Edition. Ebbsfleet United FC.

So with last season’s defeat to Dorking, EUFC needed to get off to a good start. And that they did, winning the first 10 games in a row before drawing with Oxford City away.

Everything was looking rosy until they hit a bit of a blip which reached epic proportions with two defeats on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day against local rivals Dartford. There were even calls for manager Dennis Kutrieb to get the sack. Were the wheels going to come off? The answer is a resounding no.

In the next ten games, Fleet won nine and drew one. Maybe the Dartford games were the kick up the arse they needed? From that point on, only one game was lost and EUFC won the league at a canter.

What a ride it was. There was Dom Poleon, top scorer this season, dancing in the crowd during the last game of the season, with a beer in both hands, as EUFC casually won 5-0 to beat their own record for goals scored in a season that had been held for donkeys years.

There was a six month-old baby that hadn’t seen them ever lose. And their were fans that had been coming for over 50 years. This was a day to celebrate. As one despairing local said as we filed out after the last game of the season ‘The only negative to this season is that next year we can’t have a pint on the terraces!’ So with that in mind I think you can say the Ebbsfleet fans are more than satisfied.

Sam is on Twitter: @SamWainwrightUK and Instagram: @Wainwrightsam

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