Ebbsfleet United 1-0 Woking

LIAM Daish celebrated his first ever FA Cup win as manager of the Fleet as Kezie Ibe brought some cheer to long-suffering fans, whose last positive result in this competition came at Chester's Deva Stadium some five years ago.

It was just reward for the evening's endeavours as the Fleet were by far the better side in a game which rarely lit up a cold October night against a Woking side who seemed strangely shot shy.

Yet it was Woking who started the brighter of the two sides as the Fleet struggled to get any sort of impetus going.

With one change from Saturday's side, Sacha Opinel returning to left back and Darius Charles moved to the centre of defence in place of Paul McCarthy, the Fleet back line looked a little nervous as Saturday's goalscorers Wilfried Domoraud and Liam Marum ran at them.

Colin Miles got behind the defence in the opening minutes to plant a header just wide and Domoraud had another chance six minutes later, latching onto Paolo Vernazza's pass and forcing a save from Lance Cronin.

But the Woking fire blew itself out inside 10 minutes, however, and the game degenerated into an end-to-end battle to see who could kick it highest, much to a mixture of mirth and exasperation from the terraces.

The ironic cheers were drowned out in the 19th minute by what proved to be the match-winning goal.

As another long ball headed skywards, Paul Lorraine headed clear for Woking only for Craig Stone to intercept and as the ball fell kindly to Ibe, the Fleet striker let fly with a stunning shot from 25 yards that swerved viciously into the top corner of the net.

With their noses in front, the Fleet's game improved markedly.

Stacy Long was back to his best and Ibe, buoyed by his goal, was full of running.

Michael Gash, who was playing slightly deeper than usual for spells in the first half, tormented the Woking defence when he got the ball at his feet but, as they did on Saturday.

Ebbsfleet were still struggling to turn dominant possession into clear-cut chances.

Ibe should have done better with another effort on 37 minutes, heading Long's free-kick wide when well placed.

The second half carried on in much the same vein, with Long finding space to twist and turn inside Konan and Moore making headway against Miles at left back.

Yet it was a tangle between these two on 57 minutes which provided the game's first real flashpoint.

As Moore stretched for a pass just inside the Woking half, Miles slid in with his studs showing and raked Moore's leg, opening a gash just below the knee.

The linesman was positioned right in front of the incident, while the referee had a long hard look but continued to play on.

Moore was stretchered off and Miles was saved from a caution, at least until he lunged at substitute Ricky Shakes minutes later to draw the wrath of the crowd in an incident which also saw Stone booked.

Mark Ricketts too saw yellow when he hauled down Marum as the ungainly striker threatened to slip inside the Fleet defence.

The game temporarily threatened to boil over and fortunately for the Fleet they escaped a scare when concentration at the back seemed to lapse.

James Smith made a hash of a clearance inside the box and Marum pounced, only to see a tame lob fail to beat Cronin.

When the fireworks on the pitch subsided, with Miles being hauled off by Woking manager Phil Gilchrist, they started to be heard off the pitch and as sleet poured down.

Fleet regained the initiative and camped inside the Woking half.

Ricketts clipped the crossbar with the second of two cheeky efforts from wide right, while Gash had a chance on 75 minutes when Carl Pentney parried his shot.

Ibe's determination against Lorraine and Hutchinson later won him possession on the edge of the box, but he couldn't get any power in his shot.

Long too saw a fine effort pass the upright when he fired in a dipping shot and Gash should really have wrapped things up at the death as he broke clear from Long's through ball but failed to beat Pentney when in on goal.

He had another effort immediately after, cutting in from the edge of the box, but Woking had bodies in the way.

A couple of late substitutions by the visitors failed to spark them into life and the Fleet held out through yet another overly long period of injury time to book their place against Crewe Alexandra on November 8.

Ebbsfleet United: Cronin, Ricketts, Opinel, Smith, Charles, Barrett, Stone, Long, Moore (Shakes 57), Gash, Ibe (Purcell 79). Att: 869.