Ebbsfleet v FC Halifax Town: Preview

Halifax have won six of their last eight games and are fourth in the table. A draw on Saturday could see them go top, but more likely they will need to win and hope other results go their way involving top three Sutton, Dover and Aldershot.

Halifax have only conceded in one of their six away games this season and have scored in eight of their last nine matches, having failed to find the net in any of their first three fixtures.

Billy Heath will be without centre-backs Scott Garner, who is suspended for the next three games after the appeal over his red card against Bromley was rejected, and Martin Riley, who Heath has ruled out for the season due to a cruciate ligament injury.

That means Nathan Hotte may drop into the back line if Heath does not bring in another defender before the match.

Former AFC Wimbledon and Gillingham striker Danny Kedwell is Ebbsfleet’s top-scorer with five goals and scored the winner from the penalty spot in their last game - a 1-0 win at Boreham Wood.

Ebbsfleet have only scored twice in their last four home games and have only won twice this season, but have also only lost once, remaining unbeaten by the likes of Dover, Dagenham and Redbridge and Eastleigh.

Manager Daryl McMahon has guided the club to back-to-back second-placed finishes, and to victory in the Conference South play-off final last season.

Ebbsfleet have played 96 league games since McMahon was appointed manager in April 2015.

They have won 55, drawn 30 and lost 11, scoring 185 goals and conceding 81. Their record of 195 points during that period works out at more than two per game.

Town’s last trip to Ebbsfleet came back in August 2007 and ended in a 1-0 defeat. The Halifax team that day was: Mawson, Quinn, Wright, Doughty, Belle, Scott, Bushell, Griffith, Kearney, Campbell, Stamp.

Saturday’s National League fixtures:

Dag & Red v Torquay

Dover v Solihull M

Eastleigh v Chester

Barrow v Maidstone

Ebbsfleet v Halifax

Wrexham v Sutton Utd

Gateshead v Boreham W

Leyton Orient v AFC Fylde

Macclesfield v Aldershot

Maidenhead v Guiseley

Bromley v Tranmere

Woking v Hartlepool