Dorking Wanderers 3 Ebbsfleet United 2 aet: Reaction from Fleet boss Dennis Kutrieb

Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb admitted having victory snatched away from them in the dying seconds on Saturday was worse than losing on penalties or being thrashed.

The Fleet were just moments away from promotion when Dorking Wanderers equalised in the ninth minute of stoppage time to force extra-time. Dorking won 3-2 in the end and Fleet remain in National League South.

It was tough to take for Kutrieb and his players, the Fleet boss admitting he’d rather have been stuffed or lost on penalties than being so close and yet so far away from going up.

“It would have been better for me to get battered 5-0 or 5-1 than have a lead until the 99th minute, that’s really tough to take,” said the Fleet boss.

“I would take a penalty shoot-out defeat all day long, it’s much easier for me to take as then you can say your goalkeeper wasn’t good enough or one player missed and that wasn’t good enough. But here the referee put more minutes on and just waited for another chance - that’s tough to take.

“It’s tough to take for everyone. You need to defend it better. I would say (we were) unlucky but everything happens in life for a reason. We don’t know the reason why yet but we will find out.

“I’m disappointed we couldn’t get over the line in the last 20 seconds. I’m disappointed for every fan, player and staff member.

“We worked hard (over the season) and I was sure we’d get the reward but we didn’t get what we deserved. We weren’t good enough to get over the line.”

Kutrieb sprang a surprise by drafting Joe Martin into his starting line-up and moving Jack Paxman into a central midfield role.

But it – and the Fleet’s gameplan – worked as they dominated for large periods of the first half and had the better chances.

When substitute Craig