Daish keeps Ebbsfleet focused on promotion

The most striking thing about spending an afternoon at Stonebridge Road was to observe how little the hysteria of the ongoing MyFootballClub takeover has impinged on the day-to-day life of Ebbsfleet United.

Until the deal is completed, the Blue Square Premier club are resolutely maintaining their focus on the challenge for a place in the play-offs.

Liam Daish, the manager, says that he will not know how his job will be affected by MyFootballClub becoming his bosses until due diligence is completed and the legal niceties are tied up.

In the meantime his energy is directed towards bringing on his clutch of talented young players. His eyes light up at the mention of John Akinde, an 18-year-old whom he has blooded in the past five weeks, who is proving himself a forward of startlingly mature touch and composure.

Jason Botley, the chairman, says that the club’s academy and Pase scheme that produced Akinde is bearing real fruit only now that Ebbsfleet are full time. Before that the youngsters on the scheme were training 12 hours a week while the squad came in only for one and a half hour sessions two evenings a week after work. Since the start of last season when the club made the leap to full-time football, the scheme dovetails to the benefit of the club and the youngsters.

Stacy Long, the 22-year-old midfield player, who took his tally to four goals in two matches when scoring twice in the 4-1 win over Weymouth on Saturday, said that the set-up run by Daish is so professional that the blow of dropping out of the League has been cushioned. Long started his career at Charlton Athletic before spending a season with Notts County.

Long played with an effervescence that gave clear indication that he is enjoying his football. He took his goals with aplomb, skipping past a defender with relish to set up his second. He also unleashed a ferocious shot from 25 yards that might have brought him a hat-trick but for a flying save by Jason Matthews. Long also swung over the corner from which Chukki Eribenne scored the third goal against his former club.

Daish was equally positive about the benefits of full-time training, suggesting that he has profited from the chance to observe players at close quarters and assess their abilities accordingly. A case in point was seen on Saturday. Luke Moore is only 19 but he has already run up 100 appearances as a promising striker. Yet in the absence through injury of Chris McPhee, Daish had no hesitation in deploying Moore in a new role behind Akinde and Eribenne. Inside two minutes Moore had confounded Weymouth with a driving run before releasing Long, who cut into the left of the area to score his opening goal.

Akinde did not add to the five goals that he has scored in nine matches but he has already set the pages of the club historians’ books fluttering by registering his first four goals in four separate competitions: the Kent Senior Cup, the FA Trophy, the Setanta Shield and the Blue Square Premier.

The striker put pen to a new contract on New Year’s Day and if there is an urgency to complete the protracted negotiations with MyFootballClub, it is as much to be able to secure the futures of Ebbsfleet’s young stars as to allow Daish money to overhaul his squad.