A sixth-minute strike from Anthony Cook set Ebbsfleet United on their way to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Farnborough that maintains the ‘Fleet’s push for a playoff place come the end of the season.

Farnborough failed to create a clear chance in the second half as further goals from Dean Rance and Ben May gave a one-sided look to the scoreline that could, and maybe should, have been far more conclusive.

Steve Brown, the Ebbsfleet manager, was a happy man as he spoke after the game.  He said, “I’m pleased we’ve continued our run.  It’s now four straight wins in all competitions with three clean sheets, so all in all it’s been a fantastic day.”

“For the first 20 minutes of the game we were very good, but then had a poor spell for the latter stages of the half and in truth, Farnborough were in control of that part of the game.  When we have those spells, we’re still very difficult to break down and led to us being dominant in the second half.”

“We started well, got the early goal, and I felt we were playing well enough to go and get a second. Then, for some reason, we took our foot off the pedal, the midfield became a bit loose and they started to control the play but without really threatening us.”

“It was annoying for us to address it at the interval and I don’t think they had any shots after that.  We had the chances to get two and three, and it’s very buoyant in that dressing room at the moment.”

Ebbsfleet, looking for their third consecutive League win, almost caught the visitors cold within 3 minutes as Ben May headed an Anthony Acheampong freekick into the danger area.  Although Billy Bricknell, Alex Osborn and May all swung at the ball, none could make a clean contact and the chances were cleared.

Anthony Cook showed how it should be done in the 6th minute, collecting a Joe Howe cross that wasn’t cleared by Josh Moggins. Cook took a touch to get past the Farnborough fullback and rifled a shot in off Kevin Scriven’s right hand post to open the scoring.

Cook was the creative influence early on from setpieces, setting up Bricknell for a header, and playing in Darryl McMahon for a cross that saw Osei Sankofa head over. Farnborough’s defenders looked uncertain how to counter the Ebbsfleet threat and too often were guilty of rash challenges around their area, or conceding corners unnecessarily.

May was proving an effective targetman, and one of his flicks allowed Osborn to drive into the area. The winger had two attempts to put the ball in; his pullback towards Bricknell being blocked, then from the rebound, his cross towards Cook was turned away by Moggins.

Osborn had a great opportunity in the 20th minute, as McMahon’s deep corner from the right found Acheampong, whose controlled header dropped to Osborn on the edge of the area. The ‘Fleet winger took a touch to steady himself, then fired a volley that Scriven did well to tip over.

Farnborough’s main threat came from balls in behind the Ebbsfleet fullbacks, although there always seemed to be a red shirt flying into a challenge to stop the ball getting into the box.

But as the half wore on, the visitors were starting to look more dangerous. Dan Bennett was able to thread a ball through the back four for Jamal Lowe to round Preston Edwards’ dive, but Sankofa had recovered to clear off the line.

May put a header wide from another Cook cross, but Farnborough showed an increasing threat as Alan Inns’ long clearance found Phil Page cutting in from the left, but the winger’s tame shot was easily gathered by Edwards.

The Farnborough bench was incensed as Lowe was wrestled to the ground by Sankofa, but not for the challenge, for Lowe had released Steve Laidler behind the Ebbsfleet defence and his run clear was halted by the referee’s whistle.

Ebbsfleet were the liveliest side at the start of the second half as well, and almost instantly drew Kevin Scriven into a brave save at the feet of Bricknell.

The ball rebounded to Cook, whose shot was deflected away for a corner. From McMahon’s delivery, Dean Rance was unmarked at the back post to dive forward an power a header past the keeper and defender on the post to double the Fleet’s lead within 2 minutes of the restart.

A flowing move down the right wing between Joe Howe and McMahon saw the fullback cut the ball into the area, where Osborn scuffed a shot goalward.  Scriven had to save a full length to his right to keep Farnborough in the match.

The crowd, which had been going flat in the first half, was now fully behind the home side and Bricknell drew groans as he miskicked 8 yards out seemingly with the goal at his mercy.

After a series of substitutions, Ebbsfleet sealed the game with 10 minutes remaining as Ben May scored possibly the easiest chance he will ever get.

Howe released Michael West through the outside right channel, and the replacement slid a ball across the 6-yard area, where May had the simplest task of tapping beyond the stranded Scriven.

Seconds after the restart, West broke the offside line, and rounded Scriven, but Adam Doyle recovered to clear before West could shoot. Then, Chris Sessignon did well to spin his marker, but also fired wide.

At the end, Steve Brown paid credit to his players, especially Dean Rance, adding, “it’s not just today, Dean’s been on at me to move forward for about a month.  He was our holding player on the edge of the box, but we are open to ideas and he said could we change it as he thought he could be  threat.”

“We’ve listened, given him a chance and it’s paid off. People don’t see him as a threat in the air, but the run was good, the ball was good and it was an outstanding finish.”

“I’ve never set a target of where we should be. After nine games we had nine points, so if you could discard those we are showing promotion form.”

“But you can’t, so ever since we’ve been playing catch-up. We’ll continue to try to chase Bromley and Eastleigh and put as many points on board as possible.”

“With the postponements we’ve had, we now have eight games out of nine away from home, which is going to be tough.”

“We are in the hunt, and we can keep away from the sides below us by putting three points on the board.”

“I want the players to send out a message that we are hitting the ground running at the right time of the season.”

“Four straight wins, three straight clean sheets; these are statistics that demand confidence and do send a signal out. The performance warranted the victory.”

EBBSFLEET UNITED: Preston Edwards, Joe Howe, Aiden Palmer, Daryl McMahon (Michael Corcoran 88), Anthony Acheampong, Osei Sankofa, Alex Osborn, Dean Rance, Ben May, Billy Bricknell (Michael West 75), Anthony Cook (Chris Sessignon 83).

Subs not used: Brandon Hall, Paul Lorraine.

Goals: Anthony Cook 6, Dean Rance 47, Ben May 80.

Booking: Osei Sankofa 43

FARNBOROUGH: Kevin Scriven, Josh Moggins, Adam Doyle (Oli Treacher 83), Matt Ball, Alan Inns, Luis Morrison-Derbyshire, Dan Bennett, Steve Laidler, George Sykes, Jamal Lowe (Connor French 71), Phil Page (Ade Cole 80).

Subs not used: Alfred Bosch, Darryl Siaw

Bookings: Phil Page 56, Steve Laidler 63.

Attendance: 850
Referee: Mr Carl Fitch
Assistants: Mr Stuart Cheek and Mr Stephen Moore