Ebbsfleet United may take further action against defender Kenny Clark after his moment of madness saw them knocked out of the FA Trophy on Saturday.

Jamie Day's side were five minutes away from bringing North Ferriby United back to Stonebridge Road for a quarter-final replay on Tuesday night.

But after Fleet had dealt with yet another cross into their box, Clark elbowed a Ferriby player off the ball. Referee Ross Joyce spotted the incident, sent Clark off and Villagers skipper Liam King scored from the penalty spot to send his side through to the semi-finals.

Neither manager saw what Clark had done, and many in the ground were mystified as well, but the centre-half later owned up to his actions.

Fleet boss Day said: "I spoke to him after and he elbowed someone after the ball had gone and you can’t do that. I’m disappointed with that because it’s cost us a replay on Tuesday.

"The performance was good, the way they battled and the effort they put in, there’s nothing wrong with the performance. The disappointing thing was the way we’ve given the penalty away. We dealt with the cross in the first place and then to give it away, like we have done, off the ball, it’s not acceptable.

"That’s the disappointing thing because they dug in for 90 minutes and Clarky’s let the boys down and he’s let the club down.

"I couldn’t see them scoring and I think it would have been a totally different game at our place, with our pitch being nice – I think it would have suited us. Discipline has cost us and that’s not acceptable."

Clark and his fellow defenders were involved in a running battle with North Ferriby's giant centre-forward Tom Denton all afternoon.

Day said: "When it’s in the 85th minute and he’s played in a game that he knew was going to be physical, I can’t understand why he’s done it. I can’t defend him because he’s said he’s clearly done it and that’s not good enough. He’s let everyone down at the club and we’ve told him that.

"I think we have to look into it because you can’t be throwing elbows at people. If it was the other way round, we’d be going mad. I think there needs to be action taken because it’s not good enough."

Ebbsfleet now lose Clark to suspension at a time when their squad is already stretched by injuries. Anthony Acheampong joined that casualty list when left North Ferriby's ground in an ambulance on Saturday.

Day said: "Ant’s got concussion, so he’s going to be at least a week, and then you lose Kenny.

"Obviously we’ve got Tom Bonner to come back (after being cup-tied) but the squad’s thin at the minute and we’ve got a lot of games coming up. We’ve got to dig in and we can’t have moments like we did, that’s cost us the game."

Ebbsfleet are at home to Staines Town in Vanarama Conference South on Tuesday night.