Ebbsfleet United 4 Gateshead 2 match report: Rakish Bingham scores National League hat-trick to beat 10-man Gateshead after Louis Storey red card

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.

But Gateshead’s reprieve was short-lived as Ebbsfleet took the lead on eight minutes. Good work by Bryant Bilongo and Bingham saw a defender make a mess of the cross and Samuel had the simple task of turning the ball home from a yard.

Gateshead immediately withdrew Kieron Evans for Robbie Tinkler and they rode out the rest of Fleet’s early storm without further alarm.

On 20 minutes, Samuel nearly went round the keeper but Montgomery again made an excellent save – something that would become a theme later in the game.

Gateshead were a threat despite their numerical advantage and the pace of on-loan Derby man Dajaune Brown gave them an outlet. His speed was evident on the half-hour as Declan Skura was booked for bringing Brown down on the edge of the box, Ed Francis firing the resulting