Ebbsfleet United boss Dennis Kutrieb makes a revelation about the referee after a controversial moment in defeat at Dorking Wanderers.
A goal in extra-time decided this this National League South playoff final, and it went in Dorking Wanderers’ favour in what ended up being a dramatic and intense finish.
Both sides gave it as good as they got, but it was what happened moments prior to extra-time that leaves Fleet fans frustrated after their side were just seconds from the National League. See the match in full below…
The scoreline was 1-1 with six minutes of added time held up on the board, Ebbsfleet thought they’d done enough to win promotion after Craig Tanner hit home in the 90+2′ minute.
But the game was still in play after the added-on time, with Dorking midfielder Luke Moore popping up at the far post to bundle home an equaliser with Dorking going on to get their winner in extra-time.
Ebbsfleet boss Kutrieb admitted in an interview post-match that the referee told him he’d be playing three minutes after the Fleet goal and the flare, only for Dorking to score after 4 minutes 21 seconds (also coming after the ref/lino missed a clear corner to Fleet).
“It would have been better for me to get battered 5-0 or 5-1 than have a lead until the 99th minute, that’s really tough to take,” said the Fleet boss.
“I would take a penalty shoot-out defeat all day long, it’s much easier for me to take as then you can say your goalkeeper wasn’t good enough or one player missed and that wasn’t good enough. But here the referee put more minutes on and just waited for another chance – that’s tough to take.
“It’s tough to take for everyone. You need to defend it better. I would say (we were) unlucky but everything happens in life for a reason. We don’t know the reason why yet but we will find out.
“I’m disappointed we couldn’t get over the line in the last 20 seconds. I’m disappointed for every fan, player and staff member.
“We worked hard (over the season) and I was sure we’d get the reward but we didn’t get what we deserved. We weren’t good enough to get over the line.”
“I think we were really spot-on, outstanding defending and team display,” added Kutrieb, per KentOnline.
“We fought so hard but it makes it even more disappointing for me as a manager when the gameplan is working, you limit them to almost nothing, just crosses and even then we defended them so well.
“The players didn’t stop, I’ve said it during the whole season. They would never stop, to go and try hard is the only thing you can accept from them. From a tactical point of view we were outstanding as everyone stuck to the plan for 120 minutes, it worked but almost – not 100 per cent.
“I told them that I’m proud of them. After going 3-2 behind early in extra-time you can get frustrated and let it go, kick the ball, kick the players, shout at the referee and get red cards.
“They have nothing to regret tomorrow, maybe that they didn’t stop the last cross or win that last header, but if you put so much effort into a game it’s normal you get tired and make more mistakes later in the game.
“That’s how we scored our goal, we said just wait and stay in the game until 70 minutes and we’d get our chance to finish it off. It was almost perfect.
“Craig Tanner was injured, he came off against Chelmsford and couldn’t play last week. We knew Joe Martin wasn’t ready for 120 minutes but we wanted him to go as long as he could. Craig Tanner maybe had 30 or 40 minutes in him but not 90 or 120 so those decisions were ones we had to make.
“Unfortunately, we tried a few other players but they were not ready to go. We had two or three little chances to get an equaliser at 3-3 but it didn’t happen unfortunately.”
Twitter users reacted while the Ebbsfleet boss makes a referee revelation after the controversial moment at Dorking…
FT: Dorking 2-2 Ebbsfleet
Tanner’s 93rd min goal after Dom’s run and smash against the post looked to have won it but then we chucked a flare on the pitch. In the 11th added of 6 they do what the ref wanted and equalised. Gutted. #UTF #eufc— Phil Moss 🇺🇦 (@philmoss5) May 21, 2022
@BenSmoker1: 9 mins of injury time 😡
@MarkAEverson: The death … plus a couple of minutes.
@4lecpng_stan: Blame the ebbsfleet smoke bomb
@Raymondo_316: Your fan launching that flare on the pitch led to all that added time
@LGee95: No idea how we were still playing but we haven’t lost this yet
@CharLFC_: It’s plus 10 additional mins like piss off
@paulomossey: This ref is a disgrace – how were we still playing
@FleetFan82: Absolutely pathetic, referee has been on their back pockets the entire game. Cheats
@ding368: The fan who threw the flare needs a lifetime ban. Would have been all over by then otherwise #muppet
@watson_THFC: +20 from the ref. Fucking cheats
@SkiptonHenry: Thanks to the muppet who threw the flare on when it would have been sit tight and run down 4mins
@Goonerjimbo_: Back from Ebbsfleet game. Fucking cunt of a ref. 6 minutes extra time was fucking stupid anyway but he adds on way more than needed and they score last kick before extra time. Prick.
“We made everyone aware from the league and they said no, it’s fine.”
Ebbsfleet tried to get a change of referee for their play-off final at Dorking, having had previous with Jason Richardson https://t.co/CI6o2gA5Hh
— KentOnline Sport (@KentOnlineSport) May 22, 2022
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