On a gloomy night in Kent, there was controversy for the TV cameras after just half an hour when U's goalkeeper Danny Potter was sent off after being adjudged to have brought down John Akinde in the area. Defender Mark Peters had to come off the bench to don the keeper's jersey and gloves, and his first act was to pick the ball out of the net as Chris McPhee scored the resulting penalty.

Wayne Hatswell's header quickly cancelled out the penalty and United made a real game of it for long spells of the game, but Ebbsfleet's extra man told when Akinde drove a well-worked goal past the diving Peters midway through the second half.