Ebbsfleet United 1 Northwich Victoria 0

James Smith's second half goal earned Ebbsfleet a third 1-0 win in five days as they pulled well away from the Blue Square Premier drop zone against Northwich at Stonebridge Road on Saturday.

The decisive goal came in the 68th minute as Smith arrived at the far post to head in John Martin's corner.

Earlier, the first half came to some sort of life just after the half hour when Ricky Shakes tangled with Matthew Bailey on the edge of the Northwich area and that sparked a melée which ended with five players - Shakes and Michael Gash for the Fleet and Bailey, Simon Grand and Ryan Brown for Northwich - going into the referee's notebook.

Fleet: Cronin, Crooks, Smith, McCarthy (Sole 59), Charles, Slatter, Martin, Ricketts, Long (West 80), Gash, Shakes. Subs not used: Mott, Opinel, Purcell.

Attendance: 1,003.

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