Ebbsfleet manager Liam Daish spoke to BBC Radio Kent and the News Shopper ahead of his side's FA Cup first round match against Carlisle at Brunton Park tomorrow afternoon, Daish saying the Fleet will give the tie their best shot:
"We've done well to get into the first round and we want to carry on, give it our best shot and give a good showing of ourselves. We can play really well and still come away with nothing. We will need a bit of luck and to perform at our peak. When we come off the pitch, whatever the result, we want to be able to say we gave it our best shot. We'll try to get the players prepared right and go from there.
"I've got an idea about Carlisle but that goes out of the window. We need to be aware of what they are about but try to cause them problems. We’re going up to Carlisle as massive underdogs, but we’ll have a little bit of belief in ourselves and you never know what’ll happen. That’s why they’ve got the FA Cup, as it can turn out all sorts of results.
“We’re not there yet at the moment though, as we’ve still got quite a bit of work to do, but we’re turning a corner and that’s pleasing. There’s still a long way to go yet. We’re keeping clean sheets and we’re getting miserly, we still need to get a little bit of confidence going forward. The lads have worked really hard for each other and they’ve got their rewards, which can only breed confidence.”
Carlisle take on an Ebbsfleet side in the FA Cup first round tomorrow who have they only played twice at home in history, although one of those matches was a defeat at the third stage of the competition way back in the 1962-63 FA Cup, United going down 1-0 to what was then Gravesend & Northfleet in front of 9,115 spectators inside Brunton Park.
The only other game played between the two sides in Cumbria coming in United’s Nationwide Conference season of 2004-05. Carlisle going 2-0 up with two goals in quick succession on 40 and 42 minutes through Tom Cowan and then Danny Livesey, only for the visitors to do the same midway through the second-half when Matt Lovell netted on 66 minutes and Jay Saunders did the same nine minutes later to make the final score 2-2 as 5,284 supporters looked on.
In team news for Ebbsfleet tomorrow they will be missing three players, in Ryan Blake, Ashley Carew and Ram Marwa. Left-back Blake being sidelined with a shoulder injury, while winger Carew is cup-tied having played for Carshalton Athletic in an earlier round of the competition, and midfielder Marwa finally is absent with an ongoing knee problem.
The referee for tomorrow's match is Darren Bond from Burscough and he will be assisted down the lines by Paul Marsden from Leyland and Peter Gooch from Wigan. Meanwhile the fourth official is Danny Markham from Washington and the match assessor is Clive Oliver from Ashington.