EBBSFLEET United defeated Boreham Wood for the second time in a week with a comfortable 3-0 victory in a bad-tempered game at Stonebridge Road on Saturday.
The result ensures Ebbsfleet progress to the first round proper of the FA Cup, where they will face an away date at Conference table-toppers AFC Wimbledon.
Both sides fielded unchanged teams from their previous encounter and the game got off to a quiet start.
The first chance of any note came on quarter of an hour when Fleet striker Callum Willock headed over Derek Duncan’s cross.
Ram Marwa then delivered a dangerous ball into the box and Ricky Shakes was unlucky to see his powerful header strike the crossbar.
Boreham Wood found it hard to create many chances and soon grew frustrated, losing their discipline in the process.
Tensions reached a boiling point when Leon McKenzie, who was dismissed in the league match between the two sides seven days earlier, saw red for a stamp on Craig Stone.
Following the dismissal, the Fleet pushed forward and found themselves ahead in bizarre circumstances just before the half-hour mark.
Willock inadvertently back-heeled into the path of Paul Lorraine, who neatly tucked a shot below keeper Ashlee Jones.
Lorraine’s joy was short-lived, though, as the linesman had flagged for offside in the build-up but following a long conversation between the linesman and the referee, the goal was finally given.
Mario Noto then had two chances to equalise, seeing a shot well saved by Ebbsfleet keeper Preston Edwards and then firing wide from 20 yards.
These opportunities were the closest Wood came as Ebbsfleet continued to press forward.
Shakes had a shot well saved by Jones before running onto a Willock flick-on and tapping a shot past Jones and into the net on the stroke of half-time to give Ebbsfleet a two-goal lead.
The beginning of the second half was uneventful, with both teams guilty of a number of fouls.
Willock beat the last defender on the hour and fired past Jones from an angle to put Ebbsfleet three up and out of sight.
Following this, Ebbsfleet were prepared to sit back but the fact is Edwards did not have a save to make throughout the second half.
The closest that Fleet came to extending their advantage was through substitutes Gareth Williams, who tested Jones from 20 yards, and Joe Howe, who saw his cross tipped over by Jones.
Ebbsfleet: Edwards, Stone, Lorraine, Easton, Duncan, Phipp (Howe 65), Marwa (Pooley 86), Carew, West (Williams 59), Willock, Shakes. Subs not used: Hagan, Henry. Att: 1,005.
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