Harriers sink Fleet to make it a fab four

Goals for Iyseden Christie (read reaction) and Russ Penn and a determined second half performance ensured that the Aggborough side's stock continues to rise.

Victory was even more impressive because Harriers were feeling the effects of playing their fifth game in 11 days in the second half but produced a defiant team performance to make sure this season's FA Carlsberg Trophy finalists could not find a way through.

This victory was a combination of silky football, lethal finishing and defensive steeliness that has rarely been seen at Aggborough this season.

After a long dark winter, Harriers have come to life in spring and the shoots of recovery were watched by the 1,395 home fans who came out to witness their team's resurgence.

Manager Mark Yates made one change from the side which overcame Cambridge on Saturday, replacing Paul Bignot with the experienced Jeff Kenna.

Dean Coleman kept his place in the side after a solid performance on Saturday, otherwise it was practically the same team which had battled so gamely during a gruelling fixture list over the last 11 days.

The visitors should have been tough opponents but a fluent first half performance threatened to sink Fleet.

The attacking trio of Iyseden Christie, who was imperious throughout, Matthew Barnes-Homer and Darryl Knights looked dangerous and created the opening goal in the fourth minute.

Christie is enjoying a rich vein of form and he made it eight goals in as many matches when he controlled Knight's pass, shrugged off Peter Hawkins and fired a shot past flat-footed keeper Lance Cronin.

Penn was in the right place at the right time in the 12th minute to double the host's lead after a lightning break by Knights had seen Barnes-Homer's and Christie's efforts blocked by desperate Ebbsfleet defending.

The home side continued to pass the ball with confidence and leave the visitors all at sea and Barnes-Homer flashed a shot wide in the 17th minute.

A fortunate goal allowed Ebbsfleet a way back into the game in the 27th minute. Coleman did well to punch out a free-kick and there seemed little danger when Charlie Hearn fired a speculative volley into the danger area.

But Alex Jeannin and Gavin Hurren, standing on the line, allowed the ball to float over them into the back of the net.

The visitors enjoyed a spell of dominance after the goal but could not find a way past Coleman, who dived to his left to turn around Stacy Long's goal-bound low effort in the 29th minute.

Simon Russell saw a brilliant 25-yard effort beat Cronin but crash off the bar in the 35th minute.

Harriers tired in the second half and invited Ebbsfleet onto them but some backs-to-the-wall defending denied Liam Daish's side.

Coleman got behind Michael Bostwick's low effort in the 53rd minute to keep the visitors a bay.

The hosts remained dangerous on the counter-attack and Penn was brought down just outside the area by Ronnie Bull in the 65th minute after a typically surging run.

Fleet substitute Luke Moore squeezed a shot off target as the visitors pushed for a leveller, but pacey substitute Brian Smikle had the best chances to put the game out of the Essex side's reach at the death.

He raced onto Christie's clever through ball in the area but shot over from a tight angle in the 90th minute.

Ebbsfleet saw a 91st minute corner come to nothing as Harriers continued to frustrate them, while Smikle was denied a good shooting chance at the end as he drove into the area by Bull's desperate challenge.

But at the full-time whistle Harriers' fans saluted their team, who had secured their fourth consecutive home league win in over a year.

Harriers: Coleman 7: Kenna 7; Hurren 8; Creighton 7; Russell 7 (McGrath, 91); Bennett 7; Penn 7 (Smikle, 76); Barnes-Homer 7; Jeannin 7; CHRISTIE 8; Knights 7 (Ferrell, 67, 7).

Ebbsfleet: Cronin; Hawkins; Long; Nade (Moore, 62); Hearn; McPhee; Ricketts; Purcell; Charles; Bostwick (Barrett, 76); Bull. Referee: AP Bennett (Devon). Attendance: 1,450.