Brentwood Town continued their pre season campaign with a tough assignment against National League South outfit Ebbsfleet United; a match that also saw the return of former Blues’ talisman Danny Ogunleye, who joined the Kent side during the off season.
Brentwood had a number of chances in the opening stages. Charlee Hughes cut in from the right, forcing the ‘Fleet keeper into a smart save. Further chances fell to Harvest and Mardell, with Harvest dragging an effort from the edge of the box wide, whilst Mardell saw his attempt curl past the upright.
Moments later, Olukolu latched onto a perfectly weighted through ball from Harvest and rounding the keeper, but his shot at an angle drifted just wide.
Just after the half hour mark, Gene Kennedy opened the scoring for the visitors. Good link-up play saw Lennon Peake square to Kennedy in the box, who placed the ball in the back of the net.
Just one minute later, Ebbsfleet doubled their lead in similar fashion, with Peake going from provider to goalscorer. Manktelow picked out Peake in the box, and he duly converted.
Keith Rowland shuffled the pack further at half-time. Having replaced Luke Read with Mikey Berry during the first half, the second half saw the introduction of Wyan Reid, Bradley Sach and Malachi Linton.
Brentwood pushed for a goal back in in the second-half. The best chance falling to Sach on the corner of the six yard box. He got a shot away on the turn, but Will Buse was on hand to save, before the Ebbsfleet defence managed to cleared their lines.
With an hour on the clock, Ebbsfleet made it three, with Nelson heading home from a corner.
Although it ended in defeat for Keith Rowland’s side, there were plenty of positives to take from the match against a strong opposition.
Our next pre-season fixture sees us welcome Saffron Walden Town to The Arena on Tuesday evening, with a 7:45pm KO. Admission is £7 Adults, £5 Concessions, £2 Next Gen (Ages 17-18) and U17s go FREE with a paying adult.
Report written by Adam Farmer.
