Ebbsleet United 3 Aldershot Town 1

This was a bit of an epic day for me and my brother, Paul, who accompanied me to this match. The kick off was brought forward to 12.00 to avoid possible trouble with the Aldershot fans. It occurred to me, then, that it would be possible to see the Ebbsfleet match, hop on the train and make it to The Valley for a 3pm kick off. And that is what we did, only missing 10 minutes of the Charlton game because of a cancelled train (although it would have been better to have missed all 90 minutes!) So, a first for me - two games in one day.

Let's talk about Ebbsfleet though. They had been awarded the team of the round for their defeat of Burton, but Aldershot would be a different proposition, surely? Ebbsfleet, however, got at them from the start and, courtesy of two deserved penalties were comfortably 2-0 ahead by half-time. The home crowd were buzzing - maybe Wembley was a real possibility. A healthy crowd of over 2,000 watched the game, including a German TV company, who were filming because of the internet purchase of Ebbsfleet by Myfootballclub.co.uk. I think we were filmed, which is a bit embarrassing as I no longer have an Equity card!

The second half was a more even affair with a goal each meaning that 'The Fleet' take a two goal advantage to Hampshire. Who will prevail? Aldershot have already beaten Ebbsleet 2-0 at the Recreation Ground earlier this year so I would not bet against this going all the way to penalties. That would be a cruel way to decide matters.