Ebbsfleet United manager Kevin Watson had no complaints over stand-in referee Kirsty Dowle on Saturday.

Dowle was called into action after original referee James Durkin injured his ankle before kick-off at Stonebridge Road on Saturday, causing the match to be delayed by 15 minutes.

Some sections of the home fans felt Dowle, who stepped up from fourth official duties, lost control in the second half - but apart from failing to book a visiting player for a late foul on Frankie Sutherland early on, Watson was full of praise.

"It was 15 minutes so we had a bit more of a warm-up," said Watson, talking about the delay before kick-off. "The referee slipped in the tunnel and it looked like he’s badly sprained his ankle.

"Did it affect anything? It’s the same for both teams. I won’t mention anything about the officials. I thought Kirsty got the bookings all correct.

"I have no argument about the sending-off, no argument about the bookings. There was one tackle on Frankie that she missed, apart from that she got the rest correct."

Ebbsfleet captain Josh Payne collected two yellow cards in the space of three minutes to leave Fleet with 10 men against Harrogate.

The visitors quickly wrapped up a 2-0 win and Watson knows the blame lies with his players rather than the officials.

"It’s one of those," he added. "When you’re down there everything seems to go against you.

"Payney has only got himself to blame. There are two bookable offences so he has to be sent-off.

"You’re not going to help yourself when you’re down to 10 men. It’s not a handicap system.

"We had 10 against Hartlepool and drew 2-2, 10 men against King’s Lynn and we won the game – but you can’t do that every week."

Kent FA official Dowle, who officiates in the Women's Super League, was named onthe 2020 FIFA International list of women referees at the end of last year.

• Watson: It's not good enough
• Report: Ebbsfleet 0 Harrogate 2

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