Ebbsfleet United were unable to recover from a disastrous start as they went down 3-0 to Farnborough in the Blue Square Bet South top-of-the-table clash at Stonebridge Road on Saturday.

After only 15 second a poor backpass by Ryan Blake led to goalkeeper Preston Edwards bringing down ex-Fleet striker Kezie Ibe.

Edwards was shown a straight red card and, with no goalkeeper on the bench, young midfielder Tom Phipp was forced to take over in goal for the home side.

Phipp’s first job was to pick the ball out of the back of the net after Bradley Bubb converted the penalty after three minutes to give the visitors the lead.

Farnborough did not make the most of Fleet being without a recognised keeper throughout the remainder of the half.

And when they did venture into Phipp’s area, the stand-in keeper was able to comfortably deal with what was thrown at him.

The closest the home side came to levelling in the opening 45 minutes was when Conor Okus hit the bar with a 30-yard shot.

The visitors finally added to their tally when former Fleet striker Ibe latched on to a long ball forward and lobbed over Phipp.

And they added a third goal came when former Fleet striker Paul Booth burst through the home defence and placed the ball beyond Phipp.