Ebbsfleet United 1 Hungerford Town 2 match report: Elliott Romain scores but Joe Martin gets red card for Ebbsfleet

Ten-man Ebbsfleet suffered their fourth home defeat of the season in National League South to Hungerford on Saturday.

The visitors were also reduced to 10 men late on as referee Joel Mannix ensured everyone was talking about him after the game.

Fleet made two changes from the team that drew with Dorking last weekend, bringing Lee Martin and Elliott Romain into the side.

The home side dominated the opening 20 minutes, and could have easily wrapped up the points before the game’s first goal arrived.

Rakish Bingham’s left-foot shot was saved by the legs of keeper Luke Cairney, Romain headed over a Jack Paxman centre and then Cairney’s throw went straight to Paxman who again fed Bingham but his shot was kept out

Romain’s long-range drive was parried by Cairney with Bingham unable to turn in the rebound. Cairney pushed out Craig Tanner’s free-kick and Hungerford striker Ryan Seager, who normally does his best work in the other penalty area, reacted first to clear the loose ball with Romain closing in.

Hungerford took the lead against the run of play on 21 minutes with a classic counter-attack goal. Paxman was left one-on-one at the back as the visitors broke from a free-kick and Sol Wanjau-Smith went clean through.

The Hungerford forward rounded keeper Louie Moulden but then put his right-foot shot against the post. Seager reacted quickest, however, and expertly converted his 27th goal of the season from the loose ball, beating both Moulden and the covering defender on the line.

Ebbsfleet took just five minutes to respond. Tanner’s free-kick was blocked by the visiting defence but the ball fell perfectly for Romain to fire in beyond Cairney.

The visiting keeper was again called into action before the break as he pushed behind