Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb knows the perfect way to avoid play-off heartache again next season.

The Fleet boss saw his side come within seconds of promotion against Dorking Wanderers last weekend.

But the hosts hit back to equalise deep into stoppage time and then triumphed 3-2 in extra-time at Meadowbank.

It means Dorking will dine at non-league’s top table and Ebbsfleet start all over again in National League South come August, with Kutrieb’s determination to win the title greater than ever.

“We don’t want to have this experience again,” stated Kutrieb, who has agreed a new two-year deal to remain at Stonebridge Road.

“I think in a bigger picture, it’s easier to gain automatic promotion than to go through the play-offs.

“As you can see, if a referee wants to have an influence you can’t win it or it’s tougher to win it. It’s easier to make it right during the season, then you don’t have to suffer on the last game and say it was unfair or whatever.”

When Dorking hosted Ebbsfleet in the league, referee Jason Richardson had a big influence on the result with two yellow cards for Sefa Kahraman in the first 16 minutes.

Lightning struck twice for the Fleet in the play-off final with Richardson again in the middle. This time, the Fleet - quite rightly - felt he played too much additional time, even accounting for a two-minute delay after a smoke bomb was thrown onto the pitch by a visiting fan.

“We had the same experience with the same referee here,” said Kutrieb.

“I can’t put it into words. If you don’t know how you would explain it in a different language - disappointing is the word but it’s not just that, it’s much more.

“We can’t change it, that’s football. You need to suffer sometimes, you need to suffer hard and you know what you will never experience again. That’s what I said during the whole season.

“You need to have fear about this pain, when you get a heavy defeat or an unfair defeat, because if you have this feeling then you do more in training sessions and every single game - whatever game it is - you need to save this feeling for the whole of next season.”

After Covid wrecked his debut campaign at Stonebridge Road, it was a first completed season for Kutrieb in English football.

Third place and then reaching the play-off final suggests a successful season - but he doesn’t see it that way.

“It’s hard to judge,” reflected the Fleet boss. “It was a good season on paper as we got to the promotion final, that’s fine.

“But I came over, and Damian (Irvine, chief executive) and my aim was just one - and that was to go up.

“We wanted that and nothing else. I can’t say it was a good season because we haven’t achieved our aim.

“I’m not stupid, I don’t take it for granted to get into the promotion final but when you don’t win it, it doesn’t mean anything.

“You fail and you need to go again. You need to make sure you don’t experience the same again, it’s very hurtful.

“That’s football, sometimes it hurts massively. We need to go again next season. We start from zero again next season and we have to make it better from the beginning.”