From visiting the South Coast to hosting it, Fleet move on from last week’s clash at Havant to prepare the decks for the arrival of Eastbourne Borough.
Danny Bloor’s side are enjoying some resurgent form that has reawakened their own play-off ambitions as Fleet seek to embed themselves more firmly in the top five places.
“It’s definitely a tough game for us,” said Dennis Kutrieb after seeing his much-changed side negotiate their first hurdle of the Kent Senior Cup in midweek. “Every game is tough at the moment but it’s good because that’s what we want to have. We have a few players [coming] back from injury, maybe they need a few more days and not directly ready for the Saturday game, but they are coming closer and closer.
“That’s good for us, especially at the back where we’ve struggled in the past with injuries. After the Dorking game we had three out with injury or a sending-off: Sido Jombati injured, Alex Finney injured, Sefa Kahraman, sent off. So, we lost in one game, three centre-backs. So now they are coming back and so I’m really looking forward to the next weeks. We have to dig deep as a team and work on the right results because that’s honestly what matters at the moment.”
As ever over the course of a season, the trade-off between returning players and new casualties again came to the fore as Fleet lost Alfie Egan (pictured) to injury at Bromley, the midfielder on the pitch only a short time before sustaining what the manager felt at the time was a serious, concerning knee injury – though the Fleet were awaiting a more complete diagnosis on that in the days following the midweek match. Lee Martin, meanwhile, came through 90 minutes at Bromley, joined by Kahraman, while Finney played an hour as well.
Eastbourne visit the Kuflink Stadium having led a charge back up the table in recent weeks. A nosedive in form saw them fall to 15th but seven wins since November have gradually brought the Sports to the brink of the play-off zone once more. They narrowly lost out at home to Maidstone two weeks ago but have registered useful victories against the likes of Oxford City, Hungerford Town and Hampton in recent games.
Bloor has supplemented his side with four loanees, Jack Currie from AFC Wimbledon, Dom Hutchinson from Watford, Trent Mahorn from QPR and Luke Nippard from Bournemouth. Midfielder Hutchinson has made the biggest impact, though all have established themselves now at National League South level.
Technically, there’s a fifth loanee in striker and top scorer Charley Kendall – he was a permanent signing from QPR this summer after an initial loan spell but after scoring 16 goals so far this term, he was snapped up by Lincoln City who have loaned him straight back to Eastbourne to the end of 2021/22. Kendall once scored 96 goals in a single season and while that was at U12s level, he has continued to find the net on a regular basis as he has climbed the age ranks.
Defender Mitch Dickenson has recently returned from injury while there’s a spine of experience with a goalkeeper that needs little introduction – Lee Worgan – plus striker and skipper Charlie Walker, formerly of Aldershot Town and ex-Stevenage and Chelmsford frontman Chris Whelpdale, another who returned last week from a spell on the sidelines.
Ex-Hastings defender Jake Elliott, who was substituted in last weekend’s draw at Chippenham, is likely to miss out with a head injury.
The two sides met previously this season at Priory Lane where a battling Fleet held out with 10 men to win 1-0 after Will Wood’s sending-off. Curiously, the referee that day – Ben Atkinson – takes charge again at the Kuflink Stadium on Saturday.
MATCHDAY SMALL PRINT ——–>
ONLINE SALES
Our online ticketing sales platform at fleetlive.club has tickets available until 12.00pm on matchday. We would advise pre-purchase for both your and our convenience in gaining admission to the ground.
On-the-day ticket sales continue to be available from the windows by main reception, accepting card and cash payments. Turnstiles open at 1pm but please remember they will only be accepting online tickets (printed out or on your device) and tickets bought at the windows on matchday. The dedicated season-ticket gate will continue to accept your season-ticket cards as usual.
Tickets may also be purchased before the game from local pubs The Edinburgh Castle and The Rose.
NEW CATERING OUTLET
Check out the new food stalls (to the left of the main turnstiles entrance, there is our Würtsel Haus German sausage experience and straight ahead as you enter the ground is the Manhattan Grill for all your burger, hot dog and more needs!). Pop-up bars are also situated near to the turnstiles and by ‘Geeks Corner’ between the Plough End and old stand.
CAR PARKING
Car-parking as per usual on matchdays is available at Ebbsfleet International Car Park C for £3. Please have the correct change if possible to aid our parking staff and again, we would recommend an early arrival. Please note that the areas near to Northfleet Station, namely Railway Street and Hamerton Road, have recently become resident/permit-only parking and non-valid vehicles will be ticketed. The area on Thamesway before the roundabout as you approach the Kuflink Stadium is a designated clearway – though that is not particularly apparent as you approach – so you are advised not to park here because of the risk of being ticketed.
MATCHDAY PROGRAMMES
If you wish to purchase your programme in advance for collection from our club shop before you enter the ground, you can do so either via our online shop or when booking your matchday tickets online.
Programmes are also on sale at the ground from the club shop, the popup bar as you enter the turnstiles, the Main Stand tea kiosk or in the Social Club behind the Plough End, costing £3. Advance-order programmes will be available to pick up from the club shop before the game and before you enter the turnstiles.
