Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb insists his players believe they can cause a major FA Cup upset on Sunday.

The Fleet host League 1 Fleetwood at Stonebridge Road in a Second Round tie being televised live on ITV (12.30pm).

There’s three divisions between the two clubs but Kutrieb is confident his team can reach round three for the first time since 1995/96 - if they can play at their maximum.

“I think everyone is confident,” said Kutrieb. “They know they are able to do it. I can’t see anyone in our squad that thinks we have no chance of winning.

“Everyone is up for it and that’s the minimum that you need to see, that they are ready and want to do it. They should be ready to put a show on and we can see where we are against a League 1 side.

“We want to make sure we play a good game and if we get our chances in the game, we need to be ruthless - then we’ll have a chance of going through.

“Everyone can win every game in football, anything is possible in 90 minutes. Of course, we can win a game, you need a little bit of luck, you need to turn up and hopefully the opposition doesn’t have their best day - then you have a chance to win in 90 minutes.”

With the game being shown around the world as well as on freeview national television, there will be an added dimension to the day.

Stonebridge Road will look and feel different but the Fleet boss expects his players to rise to the occasion rather than freeze in the limelight.

“We will see on Sunday but I wouldn’t be surprised if our boys step up massively,” claimed Kutrieb.

“There are a few extra percentages in the FA Cup, there are a few extra percentages because of cameras or the opposition as you want to show how good you are against League 1 players. But it could be the other way round, they can get nervous and make easy mistakes but I don’t expect that to happen.

“I expect a different feel to the ground. That’s what the boys deserve because obviously they’ve played a good first half of the season but as soon as we tick this game off we need to focus on the league again as that’s the bread and butter for us, and the main point.

“It’s exciting times for everyone, every player has to make sure they are ready to shine on Sunday.

“It’s nice for our club first and foremost, it deserves to shine in a good light and that’s what will happen on Sunday. If we can put the icing on the cake with a win that would be even better, but just to put our club there is what we deserve.”

Kutrieb is not one to discuss pressure at the best of times. But any expectation at the weekend will fall at the feet of their Football League opponents.

“We need to enjoy it,” added the Fleet boss. “I can say we have no pressure as we’re playing against league opponents but, for me, pressure doesn’t matter.

“You need to enjoy what you’re doing and do things on purpose. You need to win your battles on the pitch and off the pitch we should enjoy the attention we get this week and make sure it’s a nice Sunday for everyone - hopefully we’re still in the draw on Monday.”

Ebbsfleet have conceded the first goal in each of their last three games - all inside the first 20 minutes.

Kutrieb feels that’s the most important factor against Fleetwood and admits they will need to raise their level of performance from the previous round when they knocked out National League FC Halifax.

“We definitely don’t want to concede an early goal in the game - that’s more important than if we score the first goal,” said Kutrieb.

“The most important thing is you don’t concede an early goal as that puts you on the back foot and makes it a bigger challenge against League 1 opposition. They will know how to defend then and how to stay compact because that’s what they have to do week in, week out.

“We definitely have to play better than we did against Halifax - and we can play better. I’m sure we will play better. We’ve had eight days to prepare.

“They’ve got more quality than everyone we’ve played before this season, as it should be for League 1 opposition. You can see with other upsets in the cup, League 1 teams have gone out, so we’ll give it a proper go to try and cause them problems.

“I’m looking forward to it. We’re testing ourselves against higher opposition again, we did it in the round before with Halifax, and now this is a different calibre and challenge.

“You don’t often get a chance to play against a team that is three leagues above you so it will be exciting to see where we are.”