Ebbsfleet United v Horsham: the night the unbeaten run was tested

Ebbsfleet United went into their meeting with Horsham as the form side in the National League South and came out of it with their unbeaten league record intact, but only just. The 2-2 draw at the Morrow Stadium on Tuesday 20 October needed a stoppage-time equaliser from substitute Charlie Seaman. It also told Josh Wright more about his squad than the 6-1 win over Weston-super-Mare five days earlier had.

The Fleet had scored eleven goals in their previous two home games and pushed their goal difference to +16, the best in the division. They sat second, with three games in hand on most rivals, while Horsham arrived 15th and seven points behind, having ended a run of six winless league games with a 2-1 win at Slough Town.

Why the Horsham fixture mattered more than the table suggested

Before that win Horsham had drawn 0-0 with Chelmsford City and lost narrowly and late 2-1 at leaders Maidstone United, results that hinted at a better side than the table showed. Dom Di Paola, in his twelfth season as manager, had rebuilt the team that won the Isthmian Premier title in 2024/25, and his forward line had pace.

Jamie Yila, a summer signing from Maidstone, had three assists in seven league appearances. On the day of the game Horsham added Jimmy Wild from Chatham Town and put him straight on the bench. Both clubs had gone out of the FA Cup in the third qualifying round, to Plymouth Parkway.

The night itself: Silva, Peake, Yila and Seaman

Wright named an unchanged side. Horsham, though, started on the front foot and forced a series of corners in the opening ten minutes. Reece Meekums saw an effort drift towards the side netting, and Will Buse saved from Luer as Lee Harding and Niall McManus worked the right flank.

The goal came on 28 minutes from a sweeping move through the middle. McManus threaded a pass to Ronan Silva, who took it in his stride and fired across Buse. Silva then spent much of the evening man-marking James Vennings, and the Fleet midfield struggled to find room to dictate.

Kwesi Appiah limped off before the half hour, and Ronny Nelson later pulled up with cramp. The equaliser arrived on 78 minutes when Lennon Peake's high cross to the far post was misjudged by Sam Howes and went in. Horsham retook the lead almost immediately, Yila finishing a headed flick-on from Wild, and Seaman rescued the point in stoppage time.

Three things the 2-2 confirmed

• Seaman can change a game from the bench: he scored on his comeback against Weston-super-Mare and again here.
• Defensive depth is thinner than the scorelines suggested, with Nelson's cramp forcing Will Tizzard into the game.
• Possession without penetration is the risk against a low, compact block that defends in two banks.

The wider picture is in the title race and points totals, where games in hand keep distorting the order. Horsham's own view was that they had gone toe to toe with the league's in-form side and were minutes from handing their hosts a first league defeat of the season.

Four days later, Chapman answers the questions

Maidenhead United arrived on Saturday 24 October in weather that made good football difficult. Ben Chapman scored his first hat-trick for the club, opening the scoring on 17 minutes from Peake's cross and doubling the lead seven minutes later with a first-time left-footed drive from Toby Edser's pass.

The Fleet led 2-0 at half time and added a fourth late on. Maidenhead's clearest moment before the break was a Josh Umerah free-kick that came to nothing, and defender Manny Onariase spent the afternoon wrestling with Daniel Ogunleye. Wright had been forced into two changes, with Tizzard replacing the injured Nelson and Finlay Barnes coming in for Appiah.

The FA Trophy draw that sends the Fleet to Surrey twice

The second round draw on Monday 26 October paired Ebbsfleet with Farnham Town, away at the Memorial Ground on Saturday 14 November. The league fixture between the same clubs follows on Saturday 28 November, so supporters will make the same journey twice in a fortnight.

Farnham won promotion to this division last season and have started well. Their squad includes three former Fleet players in Bobby-Joe Taylor, Rakish Bingham and Billy Clifford, and they beat Braintree Town 6-0 on 24 October. Prize money at this stage is £3,750 for the winners and £1,000 for the losers.

What to watch next

The league picture is harder to read than the table suggests, because the Fleet have played fewer games than most of the clubs around them. Wright has been clear that he wanted his big-game players back before the winter, and Seaman's return is the first part of that.

The Trophy tie is the more interesting of the two Farnham trips because it is a knockout game between clubs that have never met. Wright's squad is deep enough to rotate, but the injuries to Appiah and Nelson limit how much he can change at the back.

For now the Fleet remain the side everyone in the division measures themselves against. The club news section follows the squad updates, and the earlier signing of Daniel Ogunleye explains why the attack has carried so much of the load.