Ebbsfleet United 3 Kidderminster Harriers 0 match report: Dominic Poleon (2) and Luke O’Neill score as Fleet pay tribute to Peter Danzey in style

Dominic Poleon scored twice as Ebbsfleet brushed aside 10-man Kidderminster with a brilliant first-half display at Stonebridge Road on Saturday.

It was a fitting tribute to late Fleet secretary Peter Danzey, who passed away eight days ago. There was an emotional minute’s silence before the game and a number of Ebbsfleet players embraced his widow Maggie ahead of kick-off. Fittingly, the third goal was scored by Luke O’Neill, who Peter had sponsored in recent seasons.

There was also a minute’s applause among the home fans in the 78th minute in Peter’s memory.

The Fleet made three changes from the team beaten at Gateshead last week with both the returning Craig Tanner and Ben Chapman prominent during a blistering first half.

Kidderminster had enjoyed most of the early action although they seemed to adopt a shoot-on-sight policy rather than a shoot-on-target one with Ashley Hemmings particularly guilty of failing to seriously test keeper Mark Cousins.

But the Fleet soon got into their stride, rookie striker Nathan Odokonyero’s movement and ball retention stood out on his first start in an Ebbsfleet shirt.

Tanner set up Poleon on 21 minutes and when he was thwarted by keeper Christian Dibble, Odokonyero’s goalbound follow-up was cleared behind for a corner.

It was a warning that Kidderminster failed to heed. Two minutes later, a crunching tackle on halfway from Tanner won possession and sent Poleon on his way. His pace got him ahead of Krystian Pearce, and his delightful chipped finish put Ebbsfleet ahead.

Within a minute, Alex Penny was booked for a late foul on Chapman.

Ebbsfleet doubled their lead on the half-hour with another classy Poleon finish. Odokonyero brilliantly dummied O'Neill pass and Poleon burst forward and