Little Christmas cheer for City in Fleet defeat

A nightmare four minutes either side of half-time saw City lose 3-0 to Ebbsfleet United at a damp and miserable Stonebridge Road this afternoon. With the interval just a minute away a goalmouth scramble ended with Romain firing the hosts ahead then, within 50 seconds of the restart, Poleon doubled their advantage. And just three minutes later Poleon made it 3-0, heading home after Ryan Clarke had parried his first effort. Before the opening goal City had more than matched the high-flying Kent side, Cody Cooke twice being denied by keeper Haigh and Dave Sims-Burgess missing a great chance after hesitancy in United’s backline. Despite facing a succession of corners City had dealt comfortably with the threat posed by Ebbsfleet until Romain struck and before they had a chance to react the game was beyond them. Tom Smith and Omar Holness did come close to giving City hope in the closing stages of the game but it also took several good stops from Clarke to deny Ebbsfleet further goals, although the result was enough to ensure they would top the table at Christmas.