EBBSFLEET UNITED 3 EASTLEIGH 0

EBBSFLEET blew Eastleigh away with a first-half treble at Stonebridge Road.

This was a fifth straight home win for Garry Hill’s side and it lifted them above the Spitfires and closer to the play-offs.

Only Barrow, who beat title-chasing Salford, are in better form than the Fleet.

Hill said: “We knew it would be a tough game but we started well with two very good goals.

“We had to keep going against a useful side but to get the third one before the break, it was more a case of keeping our shape after that.

“To make five changes from the team that played on Boxing Day shows that even though we’ve got a small squad, it doesn’t weaken us.”

Michael Cheek fired Ebbsfleet into a secondminute lead when Josh Hare allowed Danny Kedwell’s flick from a Nathan Ashmore kick to roll under his foot.

The dream start continued when Kedwell got across his man at the near post to convert a low cross from Corey Whitely.

It could have been a different story had Ashmore not got fingertips to Ben Williamson’s shot and turned the ball on to the post.

Whitely should have made it 3-0 when he ran on to Kedwell’s pass but he delayed and that allowed Luke Southwood to dive at his feet.

But the miss was forgotten when Jack Payne set up Whitely for a rifled low finish eight minutes before half-time.

Cheek laid on good chances for Whitely and Ebou Adams after the break but neither could finish from close range, while Cheek himself missed a couple of good chances to increase Ebbsfleet’s lead.

The visitors rarely looked like getting back into the game and Ashmore dealt well with two Chris Zebroski shots.

Eastleigh boss Ben Strevens said: “It was a disappointing half of football.

“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb because of the start we made.

“Credit to them, they were direct and got the ball forward to their two big lads but we just didn’t defend well enough.

“That’s as a group – we go forward as a team, win as a team and defend as a team.”