Manager Danny Searle conceded Ebbsfleet’s players deserved to get booed off after their home defeat against Woking on Saturday.

It’s four losses on the spin for the early National League basement boys after they went down 3-0 at Stonebridge Road.

Some of the home contingent within the crowd of 1,575 made their feelings clear at the full-time whistle. Searle had no complaints.

“We deserved to get booed today,” he said. “We cannot be unhappy that the fans booed us - we deserved it.

“For me, you always get back from the fans what you give. If you give them enough over a period of time, you get some credit so, when things are a bit rough, they’ll give you some support.

“But we have given nothing, bar 30 minutes at Yeovil (in a 3-2 loss). The fans on Tuesday were brilliant. They deserved so much better.

“Again, the fans have turned up today and we have given them absolutely nothing. What do they expect?

Report: Ebbsfleet 0-3 Woking

“We talk about relationships all the time. Relationships are, I give 100 percent, you give 100 percent. If the fans are giving 100 percent and we’re only giving 70, that’s going to end at some point with that relationship, isn’t it?

“You can probably hear in my voice that I’m just so disappointed. Of all the teams that I have ever managed, one thing we have always had is fighters. We have always had a fight.

“We might not be as good as someone else, we might have bad days - but we always fight. Today, I was looking at it and thinking ‘Where is that?’.

“I’m the most vocal person and I’m standing on the sidelines. I can’t affect it. Where’s my fighters?

“Against Braintree on Monday, we’ll put fighters out.

“Regardless of what the result is, I’ll make sure whoever is on the pitch fights for the club because we’re not seeing that.”

The Fleet had plenty of early set-piece chances but failed to make them count before Max Dyche headed home captain Dale Gorman’s free-kick for the Cards.

Substitute Charley Kendall then made the most of a terrible pass by Ebbsfleet substitute Craig Tanner after the restart and another Woking substitute, Matt Ward, rounded their win off in stoppage time.

Searle reflected: “The first half was a bit of a nothingness, really. We had some good actions from set-pieces but there was nothing really in the game.

“Then, we switch off, don’t defend a set-piece properly, don’t pick up a marker - he’s probably the only real target they’ve got from a set-piece - and he gets a free header and heads it from nearly 18 yards into the goal. When you defend like that, you’re going to get punished.

“The actual free-kick comes from us - our throw-in. We throw it, don’t look after it, give a stupid foul away and the foul leads to a goal.

“When you’re making actions like that, you’re going to cause yourself all sorts of problems. The second goal just kills us and the momentum.

“But I put the players on the pitch and I’ll take responsibility for that.”

Searle and his management team had opted to make some five changes from midweek, their second-half fightback at Yeovil in vain during a 3-2 defeat at Huish Park.

“We tried to start as much as possible with the team that finished the game on Tuesday with such intensity,” the boss explained. “We were good in the second half on Tuesday. We thought we had some momentum there.

“We got the two goals back, all right we conceded a silly goal, but the actual momentum of the game was with us. That was the reasoning behind today.

“Obviously hindsight is a great thing but, clearly, it didn’t end up working.”

Confidence is clearly low in the Fleet camp after a miserable start to the league campaign.

Searle said: “There’s a mental fragility.

“I’m screaming from the touchline ‘Body language’ - let’s look like we still want to get something out of the game. But we have people looking at the grass and that’s not the environment we want here.

“We want fighters. Things always go wrong in games. We make mistakes as staff, players make mistakes on the pitch - that stuff happens - but the fight is controllable.

“We have to control the controllables and we have to fight.”

The manager revealed he and Ebbsfleet chief executive Damian Irvine are always in discussions regarding the potential possibility of adding to their ranks.

“Damian is always proactive in making sure that we have got the resources we need if he needs to,” said Searle, who kept the club in the top-flight of English non-league football on the final day last term.

“I’d probably say I’m the most settled I’ve been from a club perspective in a long time. I love it here and I want to be successful here. But I need people that also want the same.

“We need to be singing off the same hymn sheet. We’ve spoken to several people about what that looks like from a mental perspective. I want to have success here. But the players have got to want that success, too, as much as I want it - if not more.

“If they don’t, we’re always going to struggle. Last season, they wanted to stay up, they were desperate to stay up. I was desperate to keep the club up and we had a common goal.

“It’s only four games, but I’m looking at them and thinking that I’m not sure you want the goal as much as I want the goal.

“There’s people on the pitch today (playing for Woking) that didn’t have a glove laid on them.

“If I was on the pitch - even at 46 - they’re not just walking through me. We have to address that quickly.”

The Fleet are promptly back in action, visiting Braintree on Bank Holiday Monday.

Searle admitted: “The one good thing about games like this is we’re back on the horse as quickly as possible. We need to see a reaction.

“We’ll be in today (Sunday). It’s like watching horror films at the minute, going through our analysis. But they’ve got to learn.

“I’ve said to the players from day one that I’ll forgive mistakes. Mistakes are easy to forgive if the reaction is appropriate. Actually, sometimes, the reaction can far outweigh the action.

“But we’re not seeing that. We’re seeing poor actions and no reaction.

“From our perspective, we have to work on a premise that we either change the people (rotating the squad) or change the people (bringing players into the squad).”

Braintree were held to a 1-1 draw at Solihull Moors on Saturday, former Gillingham, Herne Bay and Welling United midfielder Bradley Stevenson on target for the hosts.