Ebbsfleet moved 12 points clear at the top of National League South on Tuesday.

Aaron McLean's fifth goal in four games was enough to beat struggling St Albans on a night when Fleet were a long way from their best.

However, all that mattered for the leaders was a third win in four games to put the pressure back on Sutton and Maidstone, who both have two games in hand.

Ebbsfleet were unchanged from Saturday's 1-1 draw at Oxford City, with Joe Howe and Jordan Parkes returning to the squad as substitutes.

The St Albans team featured four former Fleet players - goalkeeper Joe Welch, defender Ugo Udoji and forwards Charlie MacDonald and Michael Thalassitis.

Unsurprisingly the home side dominated the first half against a Saints side who arrived second-bottom and without a win to their name in more than two months.

But the first 45 minutes were a frustrating affair for the main part with the leaders unable to inject much tempo into their play and their visitors content to defend deep.

Danny Kedwell's early dinked cross skipped away from Anthony Cook and Kedwell then drove in a terrific cross which Ben Martin almost sliced into his own goal.

Fleet's leading scorer Matt Godden started wide on the right but he briefly swapped positions with McLean and glanced a header from Matt Fish's cross straight at Welch.

Suddenly chances started to come more freely.

Cook's cross from the left was headed over by Kedwell, who then combined nicely with Godden to set up McLean for a low shot which flashed across the face of goal.

Fleet were furious not to be given a penalty when Kedwell, trying to get on the end of another cross from Fish, appeared to be barged in the back.

Godden then connected with a left-wing Cook corner but saw his header blocked on the line.

A rare break out by St Albans saw Thalassitis make ground down the right but he failed to trouble Brandon Hall with a shot which flew into the Plough End.

Fleet manager Daryl McMahon was the picture of frustration when Fish floated a cross straight to Welch after a period of patient passing and that lack of end product summed up what had been a frustrating display to that point.

But a minute before half-time, McLean hit a speculative shot from the edge of the box and the ball bounced beyond Welch, skipping into the far corner. Welch should have made the save but Ebbsfleet and their supporters cared not, instead celebrating a crucial and timely breakthrough.

The game degenerated into scrap after the restart as referee Carl Fitch lost control.

Al Bangura caught Stuart Lewis with an elbow in midfield but only received a yellow card and it was the same story when Anthony Acheampong was taken out by the leading arm of Sam Corcoran.

Eventually a football match broke out, with Fleet left-back Bryan van den Bogaert bursting through midfield and finding McLean in the inside-left channel. The striker's low cross went unconverted but the next ball into the box dropped for Godden, who forced a good save from Welch.

McLean extended Welch again with a powerful strike from wide on the right and from the resulting corner, Dean Rance craned his neck to head Cook's out-swinger wide of the neat post.

Welch then got right behind a looping Lewis effort from 25 yards.

It should have been 2-0 on 74 minutes when Cook's pass sent McLean clear down the left. He unselfishly squared the ball but Godden, who's yet to find the net in 2016, chose not to shoot first time and his heavy touch allowed Welch to gather.

Against better opposition, Ebbsfleet might have lived to regret that miss but St Albans failed to fashion anything resembling a chance as the home side closed the game out with relative ease.

Ebbsfleet: Hall, Fish, Van den Bogaert, Lewis, Acheampong, Bonner, Rance (Kissock 76mins), Godden, Kedwell, McLean, Cook. Subs not used: Howe, Miles, Sheringham, Parkes.

St Albans: Welch, Staunton (Bender 70mins), Chappell, Bangura, Oshodi, Martin, Udoji, Corcoran, Thalassitis, MacDonald (Theophanous 66mins), Thomas (MacDevitt 80mins). Subs not used: Gibson, Locke.

Attendance: 1,089.