Ebbsfleet talisman Rakish Bingham has urged his team-mates not to take a backward step in their fight against relegation.

The Fleet have taken points off champions-elect Chesterfield and play-off hopefuls Oldham since sacking boss Dennis Kutrieb.

But they remain in the National League drop zone and Bingham has warned they can’t afford to change their approach at home to Eastleigh on Saturday and Woking on Tuesday - two big games that could go a long way to determining their fate.

“It’s goal time now, we need to carry on the way we’re going and roll our sleeves up,” stated Bingham.

“We need to roll our sleeves up. Exactly what we did at Chesterfield, and exactly what we did against Oldham, there’s no need to change any approach.

“We’ve approached it as though these are games that we’re going to win. Everyone saw at Chesterfield that we gave it a right go, their keeper came off the pitch having made quite a few saves and we could have come away with the win.

“Don’t concentrate on the table. We’ve got 13 games left so it’s 13 cup finals, that’s how we have to view it. We have to view every game like it’s the last game.

“The hard work that we saw at Chesterfield - I came off the pitch with cramp in the end - is hard and difficult but as long as we’re all pulling in the right direction and we all want the same thing then we’ll be okay, I have no doubt about that.

“It would mean everything to stay up. Being injured for long parts of the season and now coming back, the club have shown faith in me so I just want to contribute as much as I can.

“Everyone in the dressing room feels exactly the same, we want to contribute and get the club out of the situation that we’re in. We all feel that we shouldn’t be there, but it’s one thing saying that.

“This is where we will be judged. Us as footballers need to do the hard work and get ourselves out of it.”

Bingham returned from a nine-month injury lay-off just before Christmas but he’s now looking back to his formidable best.

He took just 41 seconds to fire the Fleet ahead at Chesterfield - Bingham’s first goal since March - and is happy to contribute to the side in their hour of need.

“That goal meant a lot,” admitted Bingham. “We spoke a few weeks back now about being back but hearing the ball hit the back of the net was like putting the icing on the cake.

“As a striker you’re judged off goals, aren’t you? Firstly, you want to do everything you can to help the team, and team performances. But ultimately it comes with individual performances as a striker - and contributing.

“Sometimes when you’re not scoring but you’re putting the graft in, you feel like am I really contributing as I should? But when you score along with the hard work, it makes it all worth it.”

On looking more like his old self in recent games, Bingham added: “It's match fitness and muscle memory. When you don’t do something for a long time and you come back, it’s building that consistency and getting that feeling back.

“I almost feel like I did pre-injury, when I don’t have to think about anything. When I first came back, whether I like it or not, subconsciously you might think about certain parts of your injury, are you feeling this or that, not doing certain turns you used to do, and you start questioning things like that.

“But now the momentum is building and I’ve played a few games, it’s my third proper start and getting some good minutes in the tank, so I’m feeling close to normality again.”

It’s been a tough time for Bingham, who enjoyed a close relationship with axed Fleet boss Kutrieb.

But he admitted that’s the brutal part of football, and one many of the squad had to quickly come to terms with.

“It's the harsh reality of football,” noted Bingham. “Dennis has been excellent with me, the first proper manager in my career that has shown me that faith and given me the trust as a player. It was a tough blow, it’s football and we have to get on with it.

“We have games to play regardless of who is in charge, we have a job to do and we have to stay up. The players have reacted well to it in terms of the decision is made higher up and we have to get on with it.

“It was sad on a personal level, and as a group I know a lot of the boys feel the same, but at the end of the day it’s a job we’ve got to do.”

Bingham also praised the job new head coach Danny Searle has done with the players in the past fortnight.

He added: “Credit to Danny. It’s a difficult position to be in, given the last two opponents that we’ve played against.

“Credit to him and Anwar Uddin (assistant manager), they’ve got a reaction out of the team and we’ve got two good results against two good sides.”