Rakish Bingham’s second-half hat-trick saw Ebbsfleet take another giant step towards National League safety on Saturday. The Fleet made hard work of beating a Gateshead team who had to play 85 minutes with 10 men but Bingham was clearly a man on a mission.
Ebbsfleet made two changes from the team beaten at Aldershot with Dominic Samuel replacing top scorer Dominic Poleon. There was also a first league start for Tommy Fogarty.
Within the first 10 minutes, it appeared to be an inspired switch by boss Danny Searle. Ebbsfleet’s pressing had already forced two mistakes from the visiting defence and when a third error happened, Louis Storey’s foul on Samuel was deemed a professional foul by referee Jamie O’Connor and left Gateshead 85 minutes to play with 10 men.
The resulting free-kick from Billy Clifford saw his 20-yard right-foot shot brilliantly turned away for a corner by keeper James Montgomery as his effort headed for the top corner.