Ebbsfleet slumped to a heavy home defeat to Barrow in Blue Square Premier on Saturday.

The Fleet had gone into the game on the back of five wins in six matches, to move eight points away from the relegation zone, and with the teams below them having games in hands they would have been keen to take three points against a lowly Barrow side to put further daylight between themselves and the drop zone.

But they were undone by a Nick Chadwick hat-trick which included two goals in two first half minutes just before the half-hour mark.

Chadwick put his side in front with a close range header after 26 minutes, before nodding in their second just over a minute later.

He put the game beyond Ebbsfleet’s reach after 67 minutes when he headed in number three for the visitors.

Moses Ashikodi pulled a goal back for Fleet when he nodded in Peter Holmes’ free-kick with 15 minutes to go.

But Barrow restored their three goal cushion after 85 minutes when Leon Crooks was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area and Jason Walker converted the spot-kick.