Defender Joe Martin insists everyone has to be accountable for Ebbsfleet’s position in the National League table.

Martin marked his return to action after a lengthy lay-off by helping the Fleet hold promotion-chasing Barnet to a 1-1 draw last weekend.

However, the Fleet still remain in the relegation zone and face a tough run of festive fixtures, including a double-header with Bromley.

“There’s a few boys who have been through situations like this, or worse, before,” said Martin.

“Some people are talkers, some try to do it by example. You can talk about all that stuff but at the end of the day everyone’s got to be accountable, whether you’re a young boy or old boy. If you go onto the pitch, you have to perform.

“It’s different to last year, you’re playing against teams who are playing the percentages and are difficult to play against. The situation that we’re in now, we’re going to have to fight our way out of it and find our feet again.

“Once we get past this period that we’re in then we can start thinking about looking up the table, but at the minute we have to graft for our points and get ourselves out of it.

“From what I’ve watched, any time there could be a goal it’s gone in against us. If you know that’s going to be the case, you just have to accept it and make sure you don’t go under.

“We have to fight for everything we get. There has been some easy goals and some performances where we haven’t played as well as we can but we’re going to have to graft it out.”

Martin was pleased to contribute, his experience will be crucial in the weeks ahead for an Ebbsfleet side that have gone 22 games in all competitions without a clean sheet.

He got through 90 minutes without any issues and looks set to keep his place for this Saturday’s trip to fellow strugglers York.

“It’s a little bit less taxing playing as part of two centre-halves and not making the underlaps!” smiled the 35-year-old.

“I’ve been training for a few weeks and getting fit. I was hoping to get some minutes last week but the game didn’t dictate that.

“Fitness shouldn’t be an issue for me, it’s just trying to stay fit that is the problem!

“When you’re sitting on the side, you feel like you’re not earning your money. You want to be on the pitch and make yourself available for the gaffer, especially when it’s not going well.

“Hopefully I can use my experience to help get us out of where we are at the minute. Every game is important and every point we have to scrap for.

“Once we get ourselves into a position where we can be ourselves again then we can start playing football. But we have to keep that attitude and mentality that we have to scrap for everything we get.

“The refs won’t give us anything, we’ve had a few goals that shouldn’t have gone against us so we have to have that mindset that we’re going to have to fight.”

Martin has been impressed with the contribution of Myles Kenlock, who has turned in a number of excellent performances since joining the club at the end of October.

Kenlock has Football League experience with Ipswich and looks a decent addition to the squad.

“I must admit I was looking at Kenlock and thinking I’m not sure I can do that anymore!” joked Martin. “I’m still fit but as I get older, I probably have to accept I can’t run like some of them.

“Myles has been excellent. He’s come in halfway through the season so he wouldn’t have played any games and has done really well to play as well as he has.

“He’s played at a higher level so we knew he was going to be a good addition to the side. We lost Jack Wakely so we needed someone on that left side. He’s been excellent, so hopefully we can keep him fit for the rest of the season.”