Ebbsfleet climbed out of the National League relegation zone with a battling victory over Woking on Tuesday night.

In a tense affair, the Fleet made it back-to-back wins for the first time this season thanks to leading scorer Dominic Poleon’s well-taken first-half goal.

There was no surprise that the Fleet were unchanged from the side that beat Eastleigh 3-0 on Saturday.

There was an early sight of goal within two minutes but Franklin Domi dragged his shot into the side netting from an acute angle.

There was a contender for most ridiculous yellow card of the season after seven minutes when Woking striker Lewis Walker conceded a free-kick and then promptly barged into Toby Edser as he looked to take it quickly. Referee Jason Richardson will not have an easier decision to make all season.

Woking, who looked a threat as they went man-for-man across the pitch and left good numbers up high had two chances in a minute but Jayden Luker shot wide from 20 yards and Dennon Lewis’ ambitious volley was high and wide.

Ebbsfleet took the lead on 18 minutes. Winning the ball in numbers inside their own half, the Fleet broke quickly as Domi advanced and played in Poleon. The striker produced an excellent finish over keeper Alexis Andre Jr for his 14th goal of the season.

The advantage was nearly doubled three minutes later but when the ball was recycled to Luke O’Neill following a corner, his near-post drive was beaten away by the keeper.

Woking nearly levelled on 25 minutes when Fleet keeper Mark Cousins could only palm away Ricky Korboa’s cross. The ball fell perfectly for Lewis, whose right-foot shot was blocked on the line by a combination of O’Neill and the impressive Ben Chapman.

Korboa’s 20-yard shot was comfortably saved by Cousins early in the second half, while the Fleet keeper was also quickly into the notepad for timewasting over a goal kick.

Luke Wilkinson’s 25-yard free-kick hit the defensive wall and went over for a corner while another free-kick from distance also couldn’t get past the wall for the visitors.

Ebbsfleet replaced Saturday’s star man Bryant Bilongo, who had a quiet evening, just before the hour and Domi was then replaced after a bust-up with Woking substitute Jerome Anderson. The referee didn’t react quickly enough and when the players faced up again, he booked them both. Leaving Domi on to potentially get a second yellow card wasn’t a risk worth taking.

Poleon took advantage of a wayward defensive clearance to run at the Woking defence but then shot wide from an angle before Andre Jr was out smartly to deny the Fleet striker a second as he again caused panic in the visiting backline.

A driving run from Myles Kenlock nearly created a second goal with 16 minutes left but when his blocked cross fell back for him to head goalwards. The resulting corner was nearly a repeat of the third goal on Saturday but O’Neill was unable to get enough contact on Josh Wright’s corner.

Ebbsfleet nearly added a second on 85 minutes when Rakish Bingham set up Darren McQueen, whose cross looked perfect to give Dominic Samuel a close-range tap-in. But Woking skipper Josh Casey had other ideas and made an excellent clearance from inside his own six-yard box.

There was a nervy moment as the ball pinged around the Ebbsfleet penalty area while more fans than usual kept looking up at the scoreboard to see the seconds slowly tick away.

Woking hadn’t created much despite seeing plenty of the ball but they were always likely to get one big chance and it arrived on 89 minutes but Walker somehow headed wide unmarked from close range.

Samuel cut inside but his shot was saved as the game drifted into four additional minutes, which saw Couins have to tip a header over the bar before Casey screwed his shot horribly wide with virtually the last kick of the contest.

Ebbsfleet: Cousins, O'Neill, Skura, Kenlock, Chapman, Edser, Wright, Domi (Clifford 64mins), Bilongo (McQueen 57mins), Poleon (Samuel 82mins), Bingham. Subs not used: Cisse, Fogarty.

Woking: Andre Jr, Casey, Wilkinson, Korboa (Kendall 70mins), Walker, Lewis, Akinola (Anderson 59mins), Kelly-Evans, Luker, Edwards (Oyeleke 46mins), Dyche. Subs not used: Odusina, Ince.

Referee: Jason Richardson.

Attendance: 1,525 (244).