Ebbsfleet will be without one of their loan defenders for this weekend’s National League action.

Defender Tommy Fogarty, on loan from Championship side Birmingham City, has been called up by Northern Ireland under-21s for this month’s international games.

Northern Ireland will play a friendly against the Czech Republic in Pardubice on Thursday and then travel to Serbia for a European Under-21s Championship qualifier against Serbia on Tuesday.

It means Fogarty, who has four Northern Ireland Under-21 caps to his name, will miss Ebbsfleet’s National League trip to FC Halifax on Saturday.

Fogarty, who turned 20 last Friday, made his first senior league start in Ebbsfleet’s 4-2 win over Gateshead last Saturday.

“It’s not just a debut for us it was his senior debut full stop,” said Ebbsfleet manager Danny Searle.

“I thought he was tremendous, he’s shown promise in training. It was a case that (he needed) to be patient because one thing we know about this league is you’ll get a chance and all we ask is you prep yourself properly in training so when your time comes, you take it. I thought he did very well.”

Ebbsfleet are at home to Chatham in the Kent Senior Cup Semi-Final tonight (Tuesday) at Stonebridge Road, kick-off 7.45pm.