WARRINGTON Town's stunning FA Trophy replay win over Ebbsfleet United was a perfect demonstration of what can happen when Yellows "believe in themselves," manager Paul Carden said.
Tony Gray and Jamie McDonald struck in the second half to secure a 2-0 victory over the National League side, 39 places above them in the footballing pyramid, at Cantilever Park.
As it happened: Yellows 2 Ebbsfleet 0
Town were only denied victory in Saturday's initial tie in Kent by an injury-time equaliser but finally finished the job on Tuesday night.
Carden says his players were "hungry" to get stuck into The Fleet and that there could be no doubt that Yellows merited the win.
"It’s a credit to them all, they all wanted it and they were all hungry for it. They’ve backed Saturday up perfectly," he told the Guardian.
"We totally deserved the win. They were fortunate to force a replay.
"They started quite well, but we weathered that and took the game to them.
"We suffered a blow with Devarn (Green) going off, but Kinny (Gerard Kinsella) came on and was clever in a different way.
"Every single player showed what they are about and showed what they can do.
"I believe in them, they’ve just got to believe in themselves and each other. There’s no stopping what they can do if they do that."
Ebbsfleet started brightly and forced young Yellows stopper Ben Ascroft into several saves early on.
The hosts seemed content to soak up the pressure and grow into the game, which they eventually did and they were well on top by the time Gray gave them the lead shortly after half-time.
Carden admitted he knew the visitors would come after his side early on, but that allowing them to have possession was not part of the plan.
"The plan was actually to go at them and get amongst them.
"We'd seen what they were about on Saturday and we knew there was nothing to be afraid of.
"We wanted the lads to go after them and I think we did that eventually.
"We knew they were going to start well. They have a lot of league experience in their side.
"Not only did we have more enthusiasm than them, we’ve actually been the better footballing team."
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