Garry Hill hailed the quality of Ebbsfleet's first goal in a 2-0 win at Maidstone on Saturday.

The derby was devoid of much free-flowing football at the Gallagher Stadium but the move of the match got the finish it deserved.

Superb link-up play between Michael Cheek and Corey Whitely opened Maidstone up on the break and there was Gozie Ugwu to beat Dion-Curtis Henry from close-range.

Hill said: "It was a goal worthy of winning any game.

"It was our first real attack, and it was a counter-attack, from deep in our half, three or four unbelievable passes, quick movement, a great cross and Gozie Ugwu's got on the end of it.

"It was a big goal because it took a lot out of them. Even though they weren't creating many chances they were very willing and working very hard. They had a lot of energy, Maidstone, and all credit to them.

"It was important going 1-0 to the good and we saw it out through the first half.

"I said to the players the second half would probably be very similar. John Still and Hakan have already got them working very hard and going forward, I know they will improve vastly and they will do that not only for John Still and Hakan but for their club.

"But it's about our club and we contained it well in the second half. It was a very messy, scrappy game but at the end it put the icing on the cake.

"You need a little bit of luck sometimes. At the end, we've won the game 2-0 and it flattered us a little bit.

"Maidstone lacked a bit of quality but I don't think they lacked any endeavour, commitment or work-rate. They put everything in and they made it tough for us but that is the dividing line sometimes between winning and losing a game, when you see that quality in the first half."

Three wins in a row have lifted Ebbsfleet to within three points of the National League play-offs but Hill knew this game wouldn't be easy.

He said: "In local derbies, league form and league positions go completely out of the window.

"Maidstone have been having very encouraging performances recently. They had a good result against Havant here, 2-0 in the league, I know it's the Kent Senior Cup in midweek against Gillingham but it's given them a certain amount of confidence and they started the better.

"There weren't many scoring chances but they had a lot of energy in the first 20 minutes which we knew would happen. That's why we went with a four to start because we knew they would try to get balls down the side and behind us and ask questions and try to stretch us early on."

Ugwu's goal was the first of his loan spell from Chesterfield while Cheek now leads the club's scoring charts with 13 for the season.

"It's nice to see both forward getting one each," Hill said.

"It's not about the quality of the performance, it's making sure you dig deep and win ugly sometimes in football.

"When you come away from home in the local derby, everything does go out of the window especially when they look like they're in serious trouble in respect of their position of staying in the league.

"It was a bigger game for them in respect of a cup final and expectation was probably more on Ebbsfleet to come here and win. We had more put on us, even more so with the likes of Gateshead and Eastleigh not having a league match today but as I said to the players, we've just got to do our job. Anything that goes on anywhere else can only be a benefit if we turn round and get good results ourselves.

"Since we've been here, that's 20 league games and we've only conceded 14 and kept 12 clean sheets. That's a good sign of any team going forward.

"Gozie Ugwu's come into the side and given us a little bit of freshness up there as well as having Michael Cheek and Danny Kedwell and the option of Corey Whitely to go up top there.

"We're OK at the moment."

Read the match report from Ebbsfleet's 2-0 win at Maidstone