With a strong wind at their backs Vics opened brightly enough and Burns and Steele combined cleverly to dispense a shot into the back of the net only for the referee to rule the "goal" offside. Williams curled a free kick from the left tantalisingly wide and things looked optimistic while the visitors attempted an offside trap that often looked vulnerable. James Smith produced the first effort on goal for "Fleet" with a well directed header from a corner kick that forced Tynan, making a welcome return to his goal keeping duties following injury, to stretch and tip the ball over his bar. From the resultant corner Smith again got the better of the Vics defence to head narrowly wide, a threat that was later to prove most decisive.

Yet Vics continued to look the more threatening and after Steele sprung the visitors offside trap he was only denied a goal by a brave save at his feet by Lance Cronin. Barely ninety seconds later the accomplished striker made amends with a clinical finish. Michael Byrne, doing an admiral job in the unaccustomed role of right wing back, struck a shot from 30 yards that Cronin could only scoop away from inside his post and when the ball was played back into the box STEELE drilled a 6 yard shot home. Vics pushed forward for a second and Williams was barely a foot wide from a 20 yard shot that had otherwise comprehensively beaten the keeper.

The second half opened in much the same vein and was barely 4 minutes old when Gary MacDonald hauled Burns to the ground inside the penalty area and a penalty kick was awarded. Arguably harshly, MacDonald was subsequently shown a red card and WILLIAMS stepped up to deliver a successful spot kick. With the opposition down to ten men and Vics on top all looked well. A clever move involving Horrocks and Brown ended with Cronin snatching the ball from the feet of the advancing Steele when he looked certain to score.

Vics vulnerabilty in defending a corner kick was finally ruthlessly exposed in the 63rd minute when SMITH rose unchallenged from neither defender nor keeper to score with a header from 6 yards. Suddenly the face of the game appeared to change as Ebbsfleet pressed forward to expose Vics' defensive uncertainties. Yet Vics broke through and substitute Jamie Mullan displayed intricate footwork to engage on a 25 yard run that defeated the best attentions of two defenders before he hit a precision low cross that fell to STEELE at the far post and again he produced a precision finish.

Surely the game was dead and buried. But Ebbsfleet took only 80 seconds to capitalise on an error by Brown, who had otherwise been impressive, to allow Purcell to set up LONG to score with the precisest of finishes from the edge of the box. With Vics' confidence visibly ebbing away it was left to Tynan to deny McPhee with a brave save at his feet. But with time running out Byrom carelessly gave away possession when in an attacking position leaving Ebbsfleet to break quickly and at the end of their three man move ERIBENNE rifled his shot into the roof the net. And it was the visitors who almost claimed, at one time an unlikely, maximum points but they were denied by a superb full stretch save by Tynan who turned a Stacey Long free kick around the foot of his left hand post.
Any neutral may well have enjoyed todays game but for Vics fans it was probably as frustrating as it gets.

Referee: J. Waugh
Attendance: 730

Man of the Match: Lee Steele