It’s been a long and brutal winter for Ebbsfleet fans. Loss after loss has made these congested, season defining months a real slog.
But, this Tuesday, we showed a little life. Maybe, just maybe, things don’t have to be so consistently depressing.
For the first time in months, the team applied themselves to the game. Ran more. Committed to challenges. And weren’t quite so wasteful with the ball.
Of course, we still had to go 0-1 down – but that was to one of the better goals you’ll ever see on a football park.
We seemed not to panic, this time. We stuck to the plan. Looked otherwise solid at the back. And whilst we still had some real issues creating chances, we seemed much more like a side that could compete.
If the game had gone on an extra 15 minutes, we would have taken three points. Only one side looked like winning – and even some Yeovil fans would agree with that. Truly, only the second time this could be said for us in the 24/25 season. This time, we only had ten men.
The referee had a real nightmare too. We were on the wrong side of every decision but – in an enormous credit to Josh – we didn’t cave. Instead it seemed to only motivate us to play harder and commit more.
This is the mentality and application fans have been crying out for. Dropping points is far less painful when you leave it all out there. If you can walk out of the ground and hold your head high, that really is enough for most folks.
So what do we do now with our hard won moment of optimism?
Well of course we need to see an improvement in the results on the pitch. But everybody knows that – and, realistically, most of us recognise we will still probably struggle to avoid relegation anyway.
So what we’d like to see is positive, incisive development in the squad. Now is the best time to readjust, tinker, trim and basically set ourselves up for success next season.
We need the decision makers upstairs to match the passion we see from Josh and have a real think about who we can bring in the door. And in places, they need to be far more comfortable swinging the axe if a player is a drain of resources and won’t serve us in the long-term.
Earlier today we handed Maxx Manktelow his first pro contract – and sourcing and supporting the players of tomorrow are exactly the kind of thing we should be doing.
So we’re issuing a call: let’s use these next weeks to make a real difference, and avoid the failures of leadership and strategy that doomed this season.
