Garry Hill hails hard-working Ebbsfleet after FA Cup stalemate

Posted Sunday, November 11, 2018 by PA

New Ebbsfleet boss Garry Hill praised the work rate and commitment of his players after a chaotic week following their goalless draw with Cheltenham in the FA Cup.

The former Woking and Dagenham manager replaced Daryl McMahon, who left the club by mutual consent on Wednesday after three and a half years in charge.

And despite only having a couple of training sessions with the squad, Hill was delighted with how they acquitted themselves as the Vanarama National League club almost pulled off a first-round upset.

“There were a lot of positives,” he said. “As you can appreciate, a lot’s gone on here in the last 48 hours. I’ve only had a couple of days on the training pitch with the players.

“It was an ideal game to have, playing in the FA Cup against a league team. What I asked for was work rate and commitment for 90 minutes and I’ve got no complaints.

“I thought we were the better side by a long, long way in the first half, but we lacked that little bit of quality in the final third. Cheltenham got back into it in the second half, so fair play to them.”

Cheltenham manager Michael Duff admitted his side were lucky not to be trailing at the break, but an improved second-half showing left him satisfied with the replay.

“I thought it was a 0-0 game,” he said. “Neither keeper made a save so it was a fair result. In the first half we weren’t good enough, we didn’t compete and we didn’t pass the ball.

“We probably were a bit lucky that we weren’t behind. If we were playing against a better team we’d definitely have been losing at half-time.”