Manager Dennis Kutrieb praised his Ebbsfleet players’ character after their 2-1 Kent derby victory on Saturday at Dover.

The second-placed Fleet moved to within three points of leaders Dartford - beaten 3-1 at home by Hemel - with games in hand, as Ebbsfleet earned a hard-fought win at Crabble.

Forward Rakish Bingham converted a late penalty to win the game after winger Luke Wanadio had equalised after the restart, with Whites having been given a controversial spot-kick of their own.

That came after Franklin Domi had put the Fleet in front in the first half.

Kutrieb said: “That’s maybe the thing that makes me really proud today.

“It’s easy to come away from here with a draw because it was very exhausting. You concede the one goal and could think ‘Ah, that’s unfair’ so we’ll get a draw. But no, they [his players] tried hard and came out on top in the end.

“We conceded the one goal and I said ‘We do more now’. We’re able to score goals so let’s go and do it.

• Report: Dover 1-2 Ebbsfleet

“Toby Edser had a very good chance, Ben Chapman had a very good chance, and I don’t know if the header I think from Elliott [Romain] was over the line. But we finally scored with a penalty.

“Afterwards, we had two or three more chances. But we got a 2-1 win and that’s the only thing that matters at the moment. We need points.

“That’s what we have to achieve and what we’ve got today. We just need to look at us, what we are doing and we need to be prepared for every single opponent, like we were today.

“We got three points. I’m really proud of them.

“Now, we can recover tomorrow, back in on Monday and we have to go again against Chelmsford [on Tuesday].”

Bingham’s 11th goal this season in the 87th minute came after Haydn Hollis had gone down under a challenge by opposing defender Jake Goodman after a goalmouth scramble following a corner.

Kutrieb reflected: “It was a tough game.

“You could see the awful conditions, well done to Dover for getting the game on but - you can see - it’s very, very boggy and a very soft pitch. It’s so exhausting for the boys to run up and down, and that’s what they have done for 90 minutes.

“Obviously we were a little bit shaky and they got a penalty gifted and scored from there. But finally, we were back on track after they scored a goal.

“Before they scored the goal, they had a good spell in the game, of maybe 10 minutes, where we weren’t on top of them. But that’s normal.

“We need to work hard - and that was clear today.

"They have a good team, they have good individual players, so we needed to suffer at points. That's what I said before the game - we have to be ready to suffer. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter.

“We want to have the three points and, now, we have them. We tick the game off and go again on Tuesday.”

Kutrieb highlighted the display of first-half scorer Domi, with rain before kick-off leaving the pitch in less-than-ideal condition.

He explained: “We nearly needed something to carry him off the pitch because he started to get cramps and all these things.

“But that’s what we need - everyone to put a shift in.”

Winger Omari Sterling-James, meanwhile, was substituted off in the first period but Fleet’s boss says the issue he had suffered with was not a major one.

Kutrieb said: “He was nothing major.

“He just had some problems with breathing so he should be all right for Tuesday. Greg Cundle got substituted off. We were just careful with him and we’ll have a look that he’s all right.

“Apart from that, we should be fine. We should have a few new faces on Tuesday that weren’t involved today - that’s what we need.

“That’s what we had at the beginning of the season when we had a strong period because we had a big squad that we could use.

“That’s what we want to do and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Ebbsfleet on Tuesday host fellow promotion-chasers Chelmsford, who lost 5-4 on penalties in the FA Trophy at York City after a 1-1 draw.