Bingham punishes 10-man Heed
RAKISH Bingham fired a superb hat-trick as Ebbsfleet United finally saw off a defiant Gateshead side who had to play almost the entire match with 10 men.
The play-off chasing visitors were dealt a massive blow as early as the fifth minute when defender Louis Storey was shown a red card for a foul on Dominic Samuel.
The Heed’s task became even harder three minutes later when Bingham’s cross handed Samuel had the simplest of tap-ins to put the home side ahead.
Visitng boss Rob Elliot sacrificed the attacking flair of Kieron Evans inside the first 10 minutes to bring on Robbie Tinkler.
But Samuel nearly added a second when he tried to round James Montgomery from an angle but the keeper got back well to deny him.
The game turned on its head, however, five minutes before the break when Callum Whelan seized on an error in the Ebbsfleet defence and fired beyond keeper Mark Cousins from 20 yards to level the scores.
And five minutes later, hesitation between Myles Kenlock and Cousins allowed the alert Whelan to nip in and score his second to put Gateshead in front.
Ebbsfleet responded by making a fast start to the second half, Bryant Bilongo’s shot was blocked and Samuel was denied by the excellent Montgomery.
But they were back on level terms on 52 minutes when Bingham drilled home a penalty, awarded after Samuel’s shot was handled in the area.
Billy Clifford slotted wide from a Bilongo cross on the hour but it was Bingham who put his side ahead shortly after, heading in Toby Edser’s centre at the far post.
Ebbsfleet sub Dom Poleon saw his chip saved by Montgomery before Gateshead forced a great save from Cousins at the other end as Ed Francis’ volley seemed destined for the corner.
Bingham’s shot was touched onto the post in stoppage time but he was not to be denied his hat-trick match ball five minutes into added time, slotting in from close range after Greg Cundle’s shot was only parried by Montgomery.
Ebbsfleet manager Danny Searle, who saw his side suffer their first loss under his tenure at Aldershot on Tuesday, said: “We didn’t give a good account of ourselves on Tuesday and that’s okay as we knew that was going to happen at some stage. It was just a little reminder that we’re not quite there yet and we’ve got work to do.
“Even though they went down to 10 men and we scored a goal, we knew they were a good side and would cause problems.
“We got them in the dressing room at half-time and the general message was for everyone to calm down and relax. They did exactly what we told them to do and we came out with the three points.
“Overall, we deserved the three points because of the way we played.”
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