Ebbsfleet manager Harry Watling has set the record straight after making a double substitution at half-time on Saturday.

The Fleet trailed 2-0 to high-flying Rochdale and Watling withdrew top scorer Dominic Poleon and Greg Cundle at the interval.

There was a superfluous amount of abuse directed at Watling prior to the start of the second half but the Fleet boss has confirmed Poleon was taken off due to injury.

“I could have changed everybody,” said Watling. “I hear the groans of the fans when Poleon comes off, one or two individuals behind me told me what they thought.

“But they don’t know what’s going on – Dom came off injured. I wouldn’t be taking our centre-forward off being 2-0 down.

“What I would say is that Rakish Bingham has come on and, not single-handedly, he’s changed the game in terms of giving us something a little bit different up there and then he shows the character to put the equaliser away with the penalty.

“We could have changed everybody but you have to search for a reaction when you’re losing at half-time. All I said to the players was if you get one goal then you will 100 per cent get two.

“I’ve seen enough of Rochdale to know that they are an on-top fighter but when you give them one back on the nose, they’re not so sure.”

And on how Watling will react to the injudicious abuse, the Fleet boss stated: “I don’t take any notice of it.

“Someone giving me a mouthful is not going to make me come in in the morning and work any harder than I am.

“I have so much self-respect in terms of coming in every day at half six in the morning and working my socks off to get us off the ground, which is where we are, that I don’t take any notice of people like that.”

On events on the field, Watling was furious with his team’s first-half performance but delighted they set the record straight in the second half.

Goals from Ben Chapman and substitute Rakish Bingham ensured a share of the spoils, increasing optimism that the new boss is finding his feet.

“We showed a little bit of everything,” said Watling. “We’ve snatched a point from the jaws of defeat.

“If you look at the last 10 minutes it looks like there’s only going to be one winner so I’m really proud of the players.

“We have to take ownership of the first half, though, as it’s my team, but we weren’t happy. The second half was brilliant, I’m so happy with our players and team, the fans and their response, it was all together.

“I thought we were miles off it in the first half and it’s not acceptable but the group of lads showed so much character.

Report: Ebbsfleet 2-2 Rochdale

“We had some choice words at half-time and they’ve given us the performance we were hoping for against a really good team.

“You have to go toe-to-toe with these teams but you need belief to do that. Once we got the first goal, the place just lifted.

“We’ve got to build off the positives as much as we can now.”