Ebbsfleet 3
(Samuel 30′, Appiah 57′, Wyllie 81′)
United 0
Ten-man United were outclassed in Kent on Saturday, as the hosts ran out clear winners at the Kuflink Stadium.
Dominic Samuel’s first half strike set the Fleet on their way, and after Kwesi Appiah doubled that advantage, things got even worse for Torquay as captain Matt Worthington was shown a straight red card. More punishment was to follow though, as Marcus Wyllie scored late on to round off a miserable day for The Gulls.
In his second game in charge, Interim Manager Neil Warnock made two changes to his starting line-up, with the Jordan Thomas and Dylan Morgan replaced by Dan Hayfield and Matt Jay in a new-look 3-5-2 formation.
Sadly though, the change in personnel and tactics failed to change United’s fortunes, and they were on the back-foot for most of the early stages.
After surviving a few near-misses without creating much in the way of goalscoring chances themselves, Ebbsfleet took the lead on 30 minutes, as a cross into the box evaded the Torquay backline, providing Samuel with the opportunity to fire back across goal, with the ball duly finding the back of the net.
Gulls keeper James Hamon kept his side in the contest with a couple of smart saves either side of the interval, but just short of the hour mark, the task got even harder as the Fleet made it two.
With a corner falling kindly for Appiah, the ex-Boreham Wood man finished clinically to double the lead for the Kent side.
Just when things didn’t look like they could get any worse, they did.
In the 69th minute, a risky challenge from Worthington on Hessenthaler brought about the full wrath of the referee, who wasted little time in showing the United captain a straight red card.
Warnock’s side rallied against the odds, but with nine minutes left, it was game over.
This time a ball to the back post exploited Torquay’s numerical deficiency, with Wyllie gleefully firing home to seal a highly satisfying afternoon for the hosts.
Having been top just a month ago, United won’t need reminding they need to turn things around pretty quickly in order to get their promotion bid back on track.
Salisbury’s visit on Tuesday provides them with a swift chance to do just that.
EBBSFLEET: 1. Matt Hall, 2. Charlie Seaman, 3. Ben Coker, 4. Jake Hessenthaler, 6. Tom Dallison, 7. Josh Passley, 8. Toby Edser, 10. Kwesi Appiah (c), 14. Dominic Samuel, 22. Ben Chapman, 24. Mustapha Olagunju.
SUBS NOT USED: 11. George Moncur, 17. Lennon Peake, 18. Gene Kennedy, 19. Finlay Barnes, 21. Josh Coley, 27. Marcus Wyllie,25. Ryan Sandford, (GK)
Yellow Card: Samuel 23′
UNITED: 1. James Hamon, 3. Jay Foulston, 6. Munashe Sundire, 7. Louis Dennis (17. Sonny Fish, 57′), 8. Jordan Young (23. Kieran Wilson, 83′), 16. Ed Palmer, 18. Matt Worthington (c), 20. Dan Hayfield, 24. Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 27. Matt Jay (11. Dylan Morgan, 72′), 28. Will Tizzard.
SUBS NOT USED: 21. Adam Seedhouse-Evans (GK).
Red Card: Worthington 69′
