Ebbsfleet United became the first club in the top seven tiers of English football to earn promotion as Dominic Poleon’s hat-trick fired the club to the fifth title success in their history.
Chris Solly lifted the championship trophy on home soil in front of 3,131, the Fleet’s highest crowd since our previous promotion clincher, the final of 2016/17.
Poleon’s 36th league goal of the season brought the house down in typically stylish fashion, the striker’s high figures reflecting the numbers the club has achieved all season as Fleet moved on to 97 points and 98 goals scored. The 100 targets are within reach before the Bank Holiday weekend is out.
Not that those figures will concern the jubilant Fleet fans who watched this one just yet – they had eyes only for the title and the return to the National League that was taken away following the premature end to the 2019/20 campaign.
Standing in their way was an Oxford City side that hadn’t lost on its travels since November… and yet Fleet turned up the style dial to meet that challenge head-on.
Dennis Kutrieb brought in Omari Sterling-James and Franklin Domi for this first of two Easter clashes, positioning a robust midfield across the park, the gameplan to release Poleon’s predatory nature at every opportunity realised to perfection.
Christian N’Guessan had plenty to do with the first meaningful action when his tussle with Klaidi Lolos in front of the Fleet box ended successfully as the two grappled for the ball. Greg Cundle then saw a promising attack peter out before it was time for the Poleon Show!
The Fleet top scorer might have opened the scoring on 10 minutes when Sterling’s inch-perfect delivery from the right picked him out in the six-yard box but he was unable to get a foot on it to stick it past Adnan Kanuric.
That hardly mattered as two minutes later he did, weaving delightfully into space inside the box from Josh Wright’s pass until the goal opened up for him and he smacked it home. The celebration was a memorable one as he grabbed the injured Bingham’s No.9 shirt and held it aloft to the Fleet supporters.
With that goal in the bag, the first-half meandered along at a good pace, Fleet playing some slick, pleasing football but seeming generally unhurried as they enjoyed their goal lead.
Cundle drew a save from Adnan Kanuric when Fleet did step it up again but Oxford hadn’t got to third place without some good football of their own and their best move of the half came six minutes from its end, a neat one-two allowing Reece Fleet to send a shot dipping over Mark Cousins that just cleared the bar.
If that woke the Fleet up to the need for a second goal, it was a warning well heeded as Poleon turned on the afterburners five minutes after the break to make it 2-0. Solly hoisted a pass down the right and Poleon screeched past Canice Carroll, wrong-footed him inside the box then drove a shot into the roof of the net. It was by no means an easy chance but in the kind of imperious form Poleon is in, it was standard practice.
It was a similar story 10 minutes later. Toby Edser’s cushioned header instantly put the entire Oxford back line on red alert and Poleon whizzed through, keeping his four pursuers at bay to slot into the far corner for his third hat-trick of the season.
A corner provided Oxford with their own chance to register on the scoresheet as Joe Miccio headed against the crossbar and Fleet blocked the follow-up header.
By then, however, it was just how much time was going to pass before Fleet could celebrate their title – the fans were in full voice and the final 20 minutes was something of an exhibition, though Kutrieb continued to prowl the touchline examining ways to magic up a fourth and perhaps fifth goal to reach the century.
That one can wait for another day, this day was all about confirming the club’s first title for 21 years and with four games to spare, the earliest in the season Fleet fans have ever known. Perhaps that was a fitting end to the nail-biting and ultimately heartbreaking way last season concluded. And there was nobody inside the Kuflink Stadium who would have had it any other way.
EUFC: Cousins, O’Neill, Martin, Solly, N’Guessan, Domi (Chapman 69), Edser, Wright (Clifford 64), Sterling-James, Cundle (McQueen 80), Poleon.
Subs: Jombati, Hollis.
OCFC: Kanuric, Davies Miccio, Ashby, Coyle, Fleet (Humphrey-Ewers 69), McEachran (Iaciofano 62), Lolos, Potter (Burley 72), Williams-Bushell, Carroll.
Subs: Carbon, Wilson