Eastbourne Borough were left to rue another missed penalty as their battle to avoid the drop suffered a big setback.

Two goals from Moses Ashikodi midway through the second half seemed to have settled this relegation six-pointer after Matt Crabb had cancelled out Stefan Bailey’s opener.

Substitute Joe Benjamin gave Borough hope when he pulled a goal back with ten minutes to go and then won a penalty which led to a red card for Ebbsfleet defender Dean Pooley.

Lance Cronin saved Simon Weatherstone’s spot-kick though and then made another three important stops in injury time to keep Ebbsfleet’s hopes of staying up alive and leave Borough deep in trouble with three games to go.

Head coach Nick Greenwood said: “If the penalty had gone in then we would have been in the driving seat against ten men and might even have gone on to win.

“You’ve got to score your penalties at this level and that is three big ones we’ve missed this season with Jamie Taylor against Grays and Paul Armstrong against Histon.

“I would never criticise a player for missing a penalty as you have to respect Simon’s courage to stand up and take it.

“He is normally a great striker of the ball and has scored a couple of important penalties in the last few months but I don’t think the delay helped him with the sending off.

“It’s hard to take as we deserved something from the game but if we play the way we did in the second half we’ve still got a chance of staying up. There will be more twists and turns I’m sure.”

Borough were unchanged for the third successive game after crucial wins over Gateshead and Forest Green but they found themselves behind after just seven minutes.

Will Salmon’s cross was only cleared as far as Bailey 25 yards from goal and he sent a low shot which caught Danny Knowles unsighted and crept inside a post.

Ebbsfleet could have added to their lead as they dominated the opening 45 minutes with a strong wind at their backs.

Magno Vieira shot wastefully high from ten yards, Kane Wills had an effort deflected over and Ashikodi forced Knowles into a good save. Borough were relieved to get in just one behind at the break but were level within three minutes of the restart.

Pooley made a mess of dealing with a high ball under pressure from Taylor and when it fell to Matt Crabb 25 yards out he lashed a half-volley past Cronin and inside a post.

The momentum was with Borough now but they were hit with a sucker punch when Ashikodi fired home from 25 yards in the 63rd minute before adding a second two minutes later following a good run down the left by Vieira.

Borough boss Garry Wilson threw caution to the wind as he brought on Danny Brown, Benjamin and Liam Enver-Marum with 21 minutes remaining and changed the formation to 3-5-2.

Enver-Marum nearly pulled one back when his shot was deflected wide but from the resulting corner the ball fell invitingly for Benjamin to turn and hook home his first goal for Borough from close range.

A minute later Pooley grappled with Benjamin as they went for a bouncing ball in the area. The Ebbsfleet defender was booked for the foul and then shown a second yellow card for arguing about the decision.

Weatherstone had already scored from the spot against Altrincham and Gateshead this season but seemed to be affected by having to wait such a long time and hit a weak shot which Cronin saved diving to his left.

Cronin then pushed a Weatherstone free-kick around a post and made a point blank save from Brown before tipping an effort from Enver-Marum over deep into injury time.

Ebbsfleet: Cronin, Salmon, Pooley, Vieira (sub Stavrinou 87), Ashikodi, Wills (sub Heeroo 87), Shakes, Crooks, Bailey, Charles, Holmes. Subs not used: Welsh, Ginty, Read.

Booked: Pooley, Vieira. Sent off: Pooley.

Eastbourne: Knowles, Baker, Austin, Elphick, Jenkins, Rooney, Smart (sub Brown 69), Weatherstone, M Crabb, Taylor (Benjamin, 69), Atkin (sub Enver-Marum 69). Subs not used: Johnson, Pullan.

Booked: Weatherstone, Benjamin.