Ebbsfleet United 1 Sittingbourne 1 (Ebbsfleet won 5-3 on penalties) match report: Fleet win FA Trophy shoot-out after Yannis Ambroisine equalises Dominic Samuel opener

Ebbsfleet needed penalties to finally end Sittingbourne’s FA Trophy run at Stonebridge Road on Saturday.

The Fleet looked to be heading through before the Brickies scored a 90th-minute equaliser to take the tie to a shoot-out.

It was the Fleet that finally prevailed as keeper Jonathan Macaulay produced an excellent save.

There was a full debut for on-loan Macaulay for Ebbsfleet following Gio Bellagambi’s serious leg injury at AFC Totton last weekend.

Aaron Cosgrave and Maxx Manktelow both came off during the midweek Kent Senior Cup win at VCD. Cosgrave was on the bench and Manktelow wasn’t in the 16-man squad.

The first chance came inside 25 seconds when Lennon Peake headed wide from a Josh Passley cross.

Sittingbourne’s only real attempt of the first half arrived on 14 minutes when Ayman El-Mogharbel shot just wide from the edge of the penalty area.

Ebbsfleet took time to get into full stride but create a string of chances around the half-hour mark.

Finlay Barnes met a Peake left-wing cross but shot wide on the turn before Dominic Samuel headed over from another Peake centre.

A good period of Ebbsfleet pressure then ended with George Moncur dragging his effort wide from the edge of the box.

Veteran Sittingbourne striker Derek Asamoah was cautioned for a late challenge on Ben Coker before Moncur’s shot was deflected wide as the first half failed to produce a serious shot on target from either side.

The pattern of the game continued after the break with Ebbsfleet controlling both ball and territory against a well-organised Sittingbourne rearguard.

Barnes got away from Jean-Baptiste Fischer on 52 minutes but keeper Taylor Seymour pushed away his left-foot shot from 20 yards.

The resulting corner was worked short by the