Missed chances came back to haunt Ebbsfleet as they crashed out of the FA Cup on Tuesday night.

They dominated long spells of their second qualifying round replay at Stonebridge Road but were hit by a late Chelmsford goal and saw their 12-match unbeaten run come to an end.

There were more than a few shades of the Fleet's cup exit last season, when they lost 2-1 to Basingstoke having similarly bossed the game without making their superiority count.

And it's Basingstoke who Chelmsford go through to play in the next round on October 10.

Having given several of his fringe players a run-out in the first game, Fleet boss Daryl McMahon reverted to almost his strongest starting XI for the replay.

Goalkeeper Brandon Hall returned after illness and there were also recalls for captain Tom Bonner, midfielder Stuart Lewis and strikers Danny Kedwell and Matt Godden.

Robbie Willmott kept his place and John Paul Kissock was left on the bench.

Chelmsford made just two changes, bringing in Harry Morgan and Charlie Henry for Mark Haines and Lee Sawyer.

The first half was an open affair, with play switching from end to end.

Chelmsford's Bagasan Graham had a swerving shot well held by Hall before the home side had a goal ruled out at the other end. Kedwell met Matt Fish's cross with a header which looped over City keeper Christian Dibble but referee Dan Cook spotted a foul in the build-up.

Marvel Ekpiteta was allowed time and space to fire a long-range shot wide at the other end, before the lively Tomi Adeloye charged down Hall's clearance when a backpass from Fish left his goalkeeper in a tight spot. Fortunately for the Fleet, the ball bounced to safety and not into their goal.

Ebbsfleet took the lead on 23 minutes, with Godden at his poaching best inside the box. Collecting a short pass from Kedwell, the striker turned inside two Chelmsford defenders and arrowed a precise shot beyond Dibble's right hand into the bottom corner.

But the hosts led for little more than a minute as City grabbed an immediate equaliser. Fish was caught out of position and Graham sent Marvel Ekpiteta running clear to deliver a low cross which Kenny Clark diverted into his own net.

Adeloye almost made it 2-1 moments later, sliding in just too late to connect with an excellent low cross from Clarets skipper Mark Hughes.

Chelmsford had their tails up and Adeloye tested Hall from distance.

At the other end, Dean Rance headed over from a Parkes free-kick and Dibble then showed good reflexes when Parkes headed the ball against Kedwell six yards out. Kedwell's inadvertent effort on goal looked on target but Dibble got there and the flag was up for offside anyway.

City almost scored a brilliant breakaway goal late in the first half when Hughes played the ball out of defence and sent Adeloye running against Bonner. The striker won the sprint and lobbed Hall but his audacious angled effort dropped just wide of the far post.

The final effort of the first half was a goalbound Kedwell strike which was well blocked by Marvel Ekpiteta.

Rance, having been booked in the first half, was withdrawn at the break and Kissock sent on to give Chelmsford a new set of problems.

But it was Adeloye who kept posing a problem to the Fleet defence, almost punishing uncertainty between Clark and Bonner when he stabbed a shot inches wide of the right-hand post.

Fleet then went close twice in a minute, Dibble diving to push a Lewis shot round the post before catching Bonner's header from the resulting corner.

McMahon's side started to turn the screw, pushing the men in blue back into their own half.

Some great link-up between Kedwell and Godden created room for Willmott on the edge of the box and he took a touch before rifling a low shot just past the far post.

Kedwell turned a Fish cross wide under pressure from ex-Dartford defender Rory McAuley before Godden nodded a right-wing Parkes delivery wide of the far post.

The pressure on Chelmsford's goal kept building.

Parkes unloaded from 20 yards and Dibble did well to claw the ball out of the top corner before Kedwell headed over when Joe Howe picked him out with a great cross from the left.

Fleet played the last 18 minutes with three strikers on the pitch after Adam Cunnington was introduced and the big centre-forward craned his neck to meet Fish's right-wing cross, forcing another save from Dibble.

It was all Ebbsfleet and Godden had a shot charged down after Cunnington and Lewis had worked an opening. Kissock then played a sharp pass into Cunnington's feet and he turned neatly before sending a low shot straight at Dibble.

But all those spurned opportunities proved costly when City substitute Hugo Skepelhorn poked the ball past Hall in the 84th minute after Adeloye had turned Graham's right-wing cross back across goal.

Kedwell laid on one final Fleet chance in the third minute of stoppage-time but Howe's side-footed effort crept agonisingly the wrong side of Dibble's left-hand post.

Ebbsfleet: Hall, Fish, Howe, S Lewis, Clark, Bonner (Acheampong 90mins), Rance (Kissock 46mins), Parkes (Cunnington 72mins), Kedwell, Godden, Willmott. Subs not used: Miles, Shields, Johnson, Tracey.

Chelmsford: Dibble, Girdlestone, Marvel Ekpiteta, Hughes, Marvin Ekpiteta, McAuley, Daley (Gosling 38mins), Morgan, Graham, Adeloye, Henry (Skepelhorn 61mins, Haines 88mins). Subs not used: Vaughan, Sawyer, Pearce, A Lewis.

Attendance: 790.