On Sunday Ebbsfleet United beat Chatham Town 2-1 to win the Under 16s Kent Youth Cup in a Final that had a dramatic and controversial finish.

If the first contest of the day had been a scorching contest as the temperatures rose, the under 16s final simmered for the first 78 minutes before exploding into life right at the end of the game with the final play leaving one manager to admit “I’ve seen plenty of them given!”

It was a first half that Ebbsfleet dominated having early chances that didn’t really trouble Conor Shortall in the Chatham goal. The Fleet did though get a huge break midway through the half as Jeffrey Noubissie “beat” the offside trap and battled into the box before being brought down a the penalty that neither manager disputed but both questioned why the offender stayed on the pitch.

Daniel Sparks took the responsibility, yet sent his kick cannoning off of the inside of the right post and away to safety. The Chats best chance of the half fell to Josh Wisson, but his header from a long free kick glanced agonisingly wide.

The second half was only six minutes old when the Fleet took the lead. A ball was played through for Casey Johnson to race onto and as Shortall came out, Johnson coolly slotted the ball home.

Chatham responded to give them credit as they had to chase the game, the passage of play now got stretched. A long free kick was launched into the Ebbsfleet box only for Fleet keeper Rhys Hughes to completely miss the flight of the ball – how relieved he was to see Max Taylor tucked in behind him to clear the ball away.

Yomi Yusuph retrieved the rebound and crossed back in for Jack Hyslop. Hughes redeemed his earlier mistake by making a great save. Then in explicably the Fleet made a mess of the clearance but again Hyslop couldn’t keep the ball down.

Ebbsfleet responded and Noubossie flashed a shot across the face of goal, before Johnson should have doubled the lead after a huge goal kick by Hughes saw his opposite number Shortall beat Noubissie outside the box only to be beaten by Johnson who saw his prodded effort bobble wide of the unguarded net.

Chatham responded as Danny Rumbol ghosted in on a free kick only to shin his effort wide of the post.

And so we came to the final two minutes – and what a two minutes they were! Noubissie did brilliantly down the right and as he laid the ball back into the path of Johnson, he smashed his drive against the underside of the bar and away. As the ball was played back in Johnson was denied again – this time by the legs of Shortall.

It only though delayed the inevitable as Ebbsfleet broke away as a Chatham attack broke down on the edge of the box. Johnson sprinted clear and this time the aim was true as he powered home a drive past the keeper at his near post to seemingly seal the victory.

Yet back came Chatham and with the clock showing 80 minutes, Rumbol played a long hopeful free kick into the Fleet box and it was allowed to bounce through the area and into the corner and give Chatham a lifeline that no one in the ground saw coming!

Indeed it was a lifeline they so very nearly were given as with the very final play of the game, a ball was lofted into the Ebbsfleet area and appeared to strike a hand as the Chats appealed almost pleaded for the spot kick – referee McKay wouldn’t be moved and promptly blew the final whistle prompting differing responses from the two coaches.

Chatham’s Paul Merritt couldn’t believe what he’d seen and said, “There’s a definite foul for their second and how he can’t give that – a stonewall penalty right at the end is beyond me!”

“We set up to frustrate them in the first half and keep it nice and tight and we did that very well. We tried to attack a bit more in the second half and take the game to them which we did but I still can’t believe that we didn’t get the penalty!”

“I’ve no complaints about the penalty we conceded in the first half – if I’m honest I was surprised we still had eleven men but it was the assistant that gave it not the ref. I can’t fault the boys they were terrific but it wasn’t to be.”

Ebbsfleet’s Danny Chapman admitted, “we’ve played better than today but it’s not about performance today – it’s the result and that’s what we got.”

Asked about the last gasp penalty appeal, Chapman admitted “I’ve seen plenty of them given (penalties in similar) down the years – I think it would have been harsh – it was a good final and I’m delighted that we won it.”

“If we’d have scored from our penalty first half, chances are we’d have gone on and won the game but then that’s football – some of our boys were almost frightened to play at times but when we did we played some super stuff; a little bit of extra quality showed through.”

CHATHAM TOWN (from) Conor Shortall, Danny Rumbol, Christian Hatcher, Luke White, Ben Coumbe, Sonny Drinkwater, Connor Buss, Paul Jones, Lee Merritt, Josh Wisson, Yomi Yusuph, Jack Hyslop, Harry Young, Shaun Black, Craig Tooth, Jordan Tring

EBBSFLEET UNITED (from) Rhys Hughes, Oliver Boulding, Joe Denny, Jack Barnes, Charley Stewart, Daniel Sparks, Jamie Twist, Casey Johnson, Jeffrey Noubissie, Max Taylor, Benedict Bowers, Alex Fialho, Stanley Thompson, Reyon Dillion