Ebbsfleet Utd 2 Rangers 1
Ten-man Ebbslfeet United came from behind to beat Stafford Rangers courtesy of a contentious offside decision.
Ten-man Ebbslfeet United came from behind to beat Stafford Rangers courtesy of a contentious offside decision.
Neither side came looking like they wanted to play and the opening half was a complete write off in terms of goal-bound activity.
But referee Simon Beck had no option to show the red card on the 35th minute when Chukki Eribenne appeared to head-butt Rangers fullback Richard Sutton.
With only minutes to go until half-time, Fred Murray was the victim of a robust challenge from Fleet forward Luke Moore and had to leave the field on a stretcher and replaced by Neil Grayson.
Five minutes after the restart it was the 43-year old who showed the rest of the 21 men on the pitch how to do it.
The bald-headed attacker hit a low shot to the bottom right corner which Lance Cronin could only admire as it flew into the back of the net.
With the extra man Rangers should have taken this game on and made the Fleet work for the ball, but this never materialised.
Rangers boss Phil Robinson cursed the linesman after the game for "an awful decision" after a ball down the wing by Moore found Purcell who looked at least two yards off.
Purcell continued to take the ball on and cut inside before smashing the ball home into the top left corner.
The comeback was completed with over 15 minutes to go when left Stacy Long hit the ball into the back of the net from 12 yards after a cut back from Moore on the by-line.
A clearly upset Robinson said after the game: "We were 1-0 up and you need a bit of luck at times.
"We did not get that and we were a bit shot shy as well, which does not help when you are in the position that we are in."
Ebbsfleet United: Lance Cronin, Peter Hawkins, Sacha Opinel, James Smith, Paul McCarthy, Michael Bostwick, Chris McPhee, Stacy Long, George Purcell (Neil Barrett 83), Chukki Eribenne, Luke Moore.
Subs: Liam Coleman, John Akinde, Phil Starkey, Rob French.
Stafford Rangers: Scott Loach, Richard Sutton, Djoumin Sangare, Luke Potter, Fred Murray (Neil Grayson 45), Chris Humphrey, Wayne Daniel, Chris Flynn, Kevin Street (Ross Draper 79), Nathan Smith (Phil Robinson 79), David McNiven.
Subs: Tom Ingram, Danny Alcock.
Referee: S Beck
Attendance: 1,055
