Ebbsfleet boss Steve Brown reserved special praise for two players after Monday's 2-1 win at Chelmsford.

Brown hailed an excellent performance by goalkeeper Preston Edwards, who made several key saves - including one to stop the Clarets going 2-0 up.

And he also saluted the work done by on-loan striker Michael Thalassitis, who led the line well and scored a fantastic equaliser to spark the Fleet's comeback.

Brown said: "I thought Preston was excellent today and I will single out two players – Preston obviously being one and Thalassitis.

"If he can show that level of consistency, he’ll never come out of the side. You’ve got someone who works like that, who has the talent he has and who finishes like that. The finish was just superb.

"I said to Preston, that’s the most we’ve needed him. He made a great save in the first half when Osei (Sankofa) played that terrible ball across the backline and in the second half, when we managed to get ahead 2-1, he made a brilliant one-v-one (save)."

The home side finished with 10 men after captain Mark Hughes was sent-off for kicking Thalassitis as he lay on the floor.

Brown said: "I thought the referee made the right decision. He took his time and he pulled in both of his assistants.

"It was right in front of me. I don’t know the lad Hughes, I don’t know much about him, but I thought what he did was outrageous. Thala’s got a boot mark across the inner thigh.

"He kicked it into him. I’ve got no complaints about that, you can kick a ball at a player while he’s down, there’s no law against that, but I thought the second part of what he did warranted the red card.

"I don’t like to see fellow professionals do that to somebody who’s defenceless on the floor and I think the referee got that decision right."