Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb praised his team’s late rally with 10 men at Wealdstone on Saturday.

The Fleet trailed 2-1 and had seen skipper Chris Solly red-carded for a professional foul.

In scorching temperatures, it would have been easy to fold but the Fleet boss saw enough spirit from his players.

“We had enough spaces, enough gaps and couldn’t make the last decision right,” said Kutrieb.

“The best word for today is almost and nearly, we could have scored here and there.

“They were massive chances from my point of view, not for a football fan in terms of clear-cut chances, but I think we had more than enough entries into the box where we could have made one more good decision and scored goals.

“We have scored from a nice set-piece to come back into the game but then a shocking decision and we were chasing the game.

“After we were down to 10 men we were outstanding, we had opportunities to create something and I’m proud of the last boys for the last 15 minutes.

“It was tough conditions for everyone and when you need to chase the game it took a lot out of them in the end. I’m proud of the last minutes when we were down to 10 men, we didn’t want to accept the defeat and it’s pleasing for me to see.

“With these conditions, 2-1 down and the referee awful (it would have been easy) to say we can’t win it today. But we wanted to get something out of the game and tried hard.”

Kutrieb was far from impressed with the officials in Ebbsfleet’s defeat.

He felt the foul that led to Solly’s red card was initially outside the box.

On the officials, Kutrieb said: “Sometimes it’s more about them than the players and that’s always where I start to struggle.

“If no-one speaks about the referee then it’s always a situation where you can say he must have had a great game. But if I go to the referee and say thanks to the game and I hear the opponent telling him how bad he was, and we think the same, then obviously something is wrong.

Report: Wealdstone 2-1 Ebbsfleet

“At the end of the day, (it) definitely cost us as we conceded a red card and penalty. I think the foul was far before. So, if he wants to send him off that’s fine but give a free-kick and not a pen.”

Solly had already been cautioned earlier in the second half and Kutrieb added: “The first one he gave a yellow card, and he was not sure about that one, so he was just waiting for when he could get another foul for him.

“If he wants to give a foul, he needs to give the first foul and this was outside the box. If he wants to give a red card, that’s fine, but it was outside the box because that’s where the first foul started. We get punished every single week.”