Nine-man Welling took a point away from National League South leaders Ebbsfleet in a fiery encounter on Saturday.

The Fleet came from behind after Yaser Kasim’s opener but a saved penalty deep into stoppage time by Rakish Bingham ensured the visitors became the first team to take a point off Dennis Kutrieb’s side this season on home soil.

Welling’s gameplan had been working to perfection before the red card.

Manny Parry’s header had already been tipped over by keeper Mark Cousins by the time Welling went ahead on 20 minutes.

Fleet captain Chris Solly has been outstanding this season but a heavy touch handed the ball to Payne. It looked like Welling had wasted their chance but they kept the ball alive and Payne laid off to Yaser Kasim who marked his full debut with a clinical finish beyond Cousins.

Parry then headed back a deep Sam Cox cross but no-one was on hand to finish, and Welling’s confidence was underlined by centre-back Jamie Sendles-White shooting over from 20 yards after a near passing move.

Referee Ben Atkinson has already shown he wasn’t going to take any dissent. After 15 minutes he called over Solly as he told Bingham to keep quiet, the Fleet striker ignored the warning and promptly got a yellow card.

The game swung six minutes before the break with Welling on top at the time. A ball played forward was too high for Payne but he felt the challenge from behind by Luke O’Neill was worthy of a free-kick.

Payne voiced his opinion in the direction of the referee, his dissent presumably of a greater nature than Bingham’s previous indiscretion and the official immediately stopped play and showed the red card.

Before the break, Sendles-White, skipper James Dunne and Medy Elito were all been booked for the visitors and while the Fleet had been frustrated for the majority of the first half it was Welling who seemingly had plenty to complain about.

Their pain was doubled in the fifth minute of stoppage time when Craig Tanner brilliantly sold a left-foot dummy to three Welling players and had enough quality to bend a right-foot shot from 20 yards beyond McKenzie-Lyle to level the scores.

The game continued at boiling point and referee Atkinson was in danger of running out of paper as Welling’s Sam Cox and Kasim were both cautioned, the Fleet feeling the latter’s challenge on Solly was worthy of a straight red card before the hour mark.

The stop-start nature of the second half worked to Welling’s advantage. Injuries and time-wasting meant there was no real flow but the Wings kept their shape well and were determined to hold onto what they had, without ever venturing into Fleet territory.

Ebbsfleet’s best chance of the half came on 70 minutes when Bingham set up leading scorer Dominic Poleon, who shot narrowly wide from inside the area.

There were seven minutes of the 90 remaining when Welling’s 10 became nine as the referee again stopped play and showed visiting captain Dunne a second yellow card.

Substitute Darren McQueen’s cross-shot was turned away by McKenzie-Lyle and Shaq Coulthirst’s header was saved low down as the referee indicated nine minutes of stoppage time. It could have easily been more.

In the ninth minute of stoppages, Poleon’s flick was handled by Sendles-White. A delay of more than a minute gave Bingham plenty of thinking time but keeper McKenzie-Lyle guessed right and dived to his left to make the save and ensure the visitors took away a point.

Ebbsfleet: Cousins, O’Neill (Jombati 89mins), Sterling-James (McQueen 79mins), N’Guessan (Coulthirst 64mins), Bingham, Tanner, Poleon, Cundle, Edser, Solly, Hollis. Subs not used: Firth, Chapman.

Welling: McKenzie, Ezennolim, Parry, Cox, Kasim, Elito (Kassarate 64mins), Nelson (Dickens 86mins), Azeez (Papadopoulus 76mins), Payne, Dunne, Sendles-White. Subs not used: Patterson, Aransibia.

Referee: Ben Atkinson.

Attendance: 1,816.