This was a derby game that had almost everything. Three goals, one red card and plenty of talking points ended with Ebbsfleet United claiming the three points at Welling United.
Sometimes, games can hinge on make or break moments and so often the defining moments go in favour of the higher placed team. If ever a game demonstrated that, this one did.
At the start, it resembled a boxing match with both teams exchanging blows.
Danny Kedwell was first to have an attempt, albeit when offside, but his header flew wide. Then Adam Coombes fired wide after Christian Nanetti had embarrassed Dave Winfield in his attempt to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick.
Wing back Sean Shields had a shot deflected over for Ebbsfleet before Lyle Della-Verde headed wide from Dean Morgan’s cross.
Jack Powell set up the next opportunity in the 12th minute and his low cross was finished by the deftest of touches by Darren McQueen.
Powell then shot wide for Ebbsfleet before Della-Verde twice had efforts beaten out by Nathan Ashmore.
Two Powell free kicks caused Welling problems finding centre backs Mark Phillips and Winfield but neither were able to make Chris Lewington work.
Winfield was then dismissed for an elbow on Rickie Hayles. Daryl McMahon soon made a change replacing the lively McQueen with the more defensive minded Jack Connors and he made a further change at the break introducing Marvin McCoy for Sam Deering.
Early in the second half, one of a number of excellent Sam Hatton corners found Coombes but his glancing header was too delicate and drifted beyond the far post.
Ashmore then saved from Coombes at the second attempt before Chris Lewington did well to stop Shields from finishing a fine breakaway.
When Danny Waldren equalised, heading home another excellent Hatton corner, there were twenty minutes still remaining and the hosts looked the most likely to win.
Shortly after, the first of the defining moments came when referee Aji Ajibola was possibly the only person on the pitch not to see a handball when Waldren’s drive struck an Ebbsfleet defender’s arm.
Then the second one came when substitute Mitchell Nelson made a powerful downward header from yet another Hatton corner only to see Ashmore block on the line.
Having failed to score the crucial second, Ebbsfleet struck the sucker punch with two minutes remaining. Bradley Bubb, who had come on for Kedwell, pulled the ball back for Powell to fire home.
After the game, Daryl McMahon was happy. “We started the game quite brightly, got the goal and created some chances as well. Great bit of skill by Powelly for the first goal. Going down to ten men changed the complexion of the game totally. I said to them at half time that there’s not a team in this division that I’d rather be manager of at half time down to ten men.
“I think I was proved right after the match. To go to one all with ten men, we showed our character to bounce back and be a creative team going forward. It’s a nice little blend at the minute. I hope we’ll get better as the season goes on.”
Not surprisingly, Welling’s Head Coach was less happy. “Ebbsfleet went down to ten men, and I think we had control of it but if you don’t see games out, whether it’s one point or three, against better teams you’ll get punished and that’s what’s happened today.
“I think we have got good players here but at the end of the day we need to get results. There were good patches today but we need to grind results out. We need to be hard to beat and solid and that’s something we’ve not been this season and that’s something we need to address.
“We switched off right at the end and got punished for it. There’s lots of positives to take out of today’s game but we need to get points on the board and we need to move up the table.“
Welling United: Lewington, Fish, Braham-Barrett, Hatton, Hayles (Nelson 51), Leacock (Fuseini 90), Morgan, Waldren, Nanetti, Coombes, Della-Verde (Walsh 72).
Subs not used: Agu, Johnson.
Ebbsfleet United: Ashmore, Cook, Shields, Phillips, Winfield, Clark, Rance, Deering (McCoy 46), Kedwell (Bubb 60), McQueen (Connors 39), Powell.
Subs not used: Sheringham, Jordan.
Referee: Aji Ajibola
Assistants: Joel Mannix and Alex Rayment
Attendance: 1,014
Man of the match: Jack Powell
Pictures supplied by Dave Budden.