Ebbsfleet United striker Dominic Poleon says four-game resurgence brings much-needed confidence for National League survival battle but urges side not to rest on laurels
Published: 05:00, 22 February 2024
Updated: 15:16, 22 February 2024
Ebbsfleet striker Dominic Poleon believes the team have momentum behind them - at just the right time of the season.
The Fleet made it four games unbeaten with a second home win in four days on Tuesday night, 1-0 against relegation rivals Woking.
“It’s nice as a player to feel like there’s momentum,” said Poleon. “When you don’t have it, you’re trying ever so hard to build it and it’s not falling for you or results don’t go your way, so it’s actually a nice feeling right now.
“We can build on it and we want to continue that. We needed that win against Woking.
“As a player when a club goes through a change, the eyes are on you and you need to perform. Especially with the position we are in, we need to be getting points on the board and not getting carried away and start chipping them off.
“Until the last couple of weeks, we’ve done ourselves a disservice. It’s nice for tonight that there’s that three-point feeling.
“Results breed confidence and happiness. It would be silly not to ignore that, regardless of anything that’s gone on. Good results breed that feel-good factor.
“As a team we need to keep our feet on the ground, nothing’s achieved yet, we need to be focused and make sure we take these positive steps and keep going forward.”
Poleon’s first-half winner against Woking, a trademark finish beyond visiting keeper Alexis Andre Jr, was his first goal in seven games.
It’s been a frustrating time for the 14-goal striker, who had an effort cleared off the line at Chesterfield and has been out of luck in recent matches.
While he’s happy to get back on the scoresheet, a more mature Poleon knows that it doesn’t matter who gets the goals now - it’s all about points on the board.
“It happens as a striker, those other chances I’ve had on another day go in,” reflected Poleon.
“The young Dominic Poleon is fuming and thinking how have I missed that, how has he saved that, I should hit it harder, whatever it is. But I’m a senior player now and it’s all about the picture bigger, especially with the position we’re in.
“As I’ve always said, I can’t get too down with the downs and too high with the highs - that’s something I go by when I play.
“Scoring goals is nice but sometimes not scoring, getting the win and playing well is also nice.
“When Raks (Rakish Bingham) scored before you could see the elation from me and that’s where I’m at with the team and myself. We want to win games and whether it’s me, whether it’s Raks or whether it’s Dom (Samuel), at this point in time I don’t really care too much.
Read more: Fleet boss praises fans after midweek win
“I want to put good performances in and help the team. We don’t have the luxury of everyone scoring like last year, we just need to get wins on the board.
“Personally, I’m delighted I’ve scored but in terms of playing well, you’ve got to try and combine the two.
“A chance like that is something I pride myself on. The last game, I was a bit unlucky. You know me well enough now, I pride myself on finishing so it was a nice finish.”
More by this author
Matthew Panting