Truro beat ten-man Ebbsfleet to go top of National League South

The National League South table turned on a single afternoon in Cornwall. Truro City beat Ebbsfleet United 3-0 in front of 1,885 at the Truro City Stadium, taking advantage of James Vennings' 16th-minute dismissal to leapfrog the leaders. Tyler Harvey lobbed Will Buse for the opener, Tom Harrison nodded in a throw-in that squirmed through the goalkeeper's grasp, and Harvey added a penalty after Buse brought down Harvey Greenslade. Ebbsfleet also had a member of their coaching staff sent off and Cameron Gbadebo sent off late on. It was a second heavy week for a side who had themselves toppled Maidstone United 3-1 at the Gallagher only days earlier.

Beneath the top two, the division's middle is tightly packed and moving. Salisbury won 2-1 at Tonbridge Angels to stretch their unbeaten run to 13 matches in all competitions, a sequence the club describes as the longest in the country. Horsham recorded their biggest National League South win, 5-0 at Farnborough, with James Hammond, Greg Luer, George Cox, Reece Meekums and substitute Harvey Sparks scoring. Billericay Town also set a club best at this level, beating Hemel Hempstead Town 5-0 through Taylor Clark, Lomas, Jon Benton, Charlie Ruff and Valentine. Dorking Wanderers moved into the play-off places with a 2-0 win over Weston-super-Mare in a bad-tempered game that saw Will Dawes sent off inside 20 minutes.

At the bottom, Chesham United remain in difficulty. Chairman Peter Brown's programme notes acknowledged a run that has left them in the relegation places — "We are conceding too many goals, not scoring enough and results are simply not good enough" — before a late Kevin Lokko equaliser earned Folkestone Invicta a 2-2 draw. Slough Town, bottom with four points from 14, lost 2-1 at Maidstone to Ryan Hanson's 82nd-minute goal.

In the north, Macclesfield closed to within two points of South Shields with a game in hand after winning 3-0 at Bedford Town, Danny Elliott scoring twice on an afternoon that began with a minute's applause for Ethan McLeod. South Shields beat Oxford City, while Buxton — whose starting XI this week averaged 22.5 years — saw off Marine 4-2, Sisa Tuntulwana now joint-top scorer in the division with 11.