Mambo sees red as Fleet go down at Imps (From News Shopper)

Lincoln City 3-0 Ebbsfleet

11:05am Monday 28th November 2011 in News and Reports By David Byrom

TEN-MAN Ebbsfleet United suffered a second defeat in succession at Lincoln City on Saturday.

On a bitterly cold afternoon at Sincil Bank, the game was even for long periods, with the final score somewhat flattering towards the hosts.

Ebbsfleet manager Liam Daish kept faith in the starting XI which lost to 3-1 at home to Darlington seven days earlier, the only change in the squad being John Herd, who replaced Jamie Darvill on the bench.

Recently appointed Lincoln manager David Holdsworth fielded a fluid 4-4-2 formation that looked to use the pace of midfielders Simon Russell and Conal Platt when attacking.

The hosts immediately took the game to Ebbsfleet, with Platt forcing keeper Preston Edwards into an opening minute save.

It was evident from the early exchanges both sides were struggling to cope with conditions as passes often went astray.

Although this created an open game, it also meant clear-cut chances were at a premium in the first half, especially with both defences making numerous last ditch tackles throughout.

This changed in the 38th minute when the impressive Platt drifted in from the right and after seeing his original effort from the edge of the area blocked, he curled a shot past Edwards and into the back of the net for a brilliant opening goal.

Fleet nearly drew level minutes later when Nathaniel Pinney shot straight at Lincoln keeper Paul Farman from point-blank range.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first until the hour mark, when Daish introduced substitute Liam Enver-Marum.

Enver-Marum seemed to be under instructions to shoot on sight and the striker had a shot flash past the post before seeing a long-range drive brilliantly tipped onto the bar by Farman.

But this was the closest the visitors came to equalising and in the 75th minute Russell made the most of poor defending from a free-kick to bring the ball down and powerfully fire past Edwards to double the lead.

Despite an inconsistent performance from the referee, he made the correct decision when Yado Mambo was sent off for a professional foul on Alan Power in the 81st minute.

John Nutter’s resulting free-kick deflected off the wall and into the goal to complete the scoring.

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Ebbsfleet: Edwards, Stone, Lorraine, Mambo, Howe, Marwa, Shakes (Enver-Marum 61), Barrett (Phipp 61), West, Willock (Simpemba 82), Pinney Subs not used: Welch, Herd. Att: 2,111