Ebbsfleet United 1 Weymouth 0

EBBSFLEET secured their place in the quarter-final of the FA Trophy with a 1-0 win over Weymouth at Stonebridge Road on Saturday.

The breakthrough came on 61 minutes when Stacy Long crossed the ball in for Neil Barrett who saw his initial header saved by Matthews before firing home the rebound.

Both sides struggled to get going during a scrappy opening which saw Fleet restricted to long range efforts from Chris McPhee and Michael Bostwick.

Weymouth, who were playing their first game under new manager John Hollins, almost opened the scoring on 23 minutes when Stuart Beavon raced onto a long ball forward, but his shot was blocked by Mark Ricketts.

John Akinde headed over from a Long corner before Sacha Opinel brought a poor first half to a close with a long range shot which was comfortably saved by Jason Matthews.

In the second half, Akinde raced onto a through ball from Bostwick before blazing his shot over.

Weymouth made changes in an effort to get back into the game but Fleet never looked in trouble and comfortably held out for the victory.

The Terras were reduced to 10 men after 85 minutes when substitute Stuart Douglas was shown a straight red card for a two-footed tackle on Long.

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Ebbsfleet:
Cronin, Opinel, Smith, McCarthy, Long, McPhee, Barrett, Ricketts, Moore, Akinde (Purcell 89 mins), Bostwick (Eribenne 66 mins).

Subs Not Used: Mott, MacDonald, Coleman.

Attendance: 818.************************************************************