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Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb insisted his team’s defence-first approach against Barnet does not go against his forward-thinking outlook.
The Fleet are renowned for their open, expansive football but they showed another side to their game to hold third-placed Barnet to a draw in the National League at Stonebridge Road on Saturday.
It wasn’t enough to move Kutrieb’s men out of the bottom four but it’s a big step in the right direction and proof that they can compete at this level.
“That’s what we need, exactly that,” stated Kutrieb. “We know we can play brilliant football, we know we can pass the ball around but it’s not needed at the moment. We need to make sure we get the ingredients we need and it was good today.
“It’s not going against anything because it’s the basic that you need and then on top of it you can start to play football. If you need to focus on something because you can’t do both then you need to focus on them things.
“That’s what the boys have started to understand, definitely today, as we knew it was hard work, especially off the ball. The strikers up top were working so relentlessly and hard so the backline had not so much to do as everyone else in front of them was working so hard. They haven’t had that many chances so it was a good display from us.
“My gut feeling is they will take confidence from that because they can see that if we put the right efforts in then we have a chance to win or get a result. From this point of view I’m pretty sure they will have confidence.”
Kutrieb was left disappointed that his team didn’t get all three points, given the quality of chances they created.
The Fleet boss added: “I’m proud of them, the defensive display was very good, and if we are ruthless then we are 2-0 up because one hit the post and was nearly in, the other one we are through on goal and Dom Poleon normally scores nine out of 10 of them, but he decided to go on the right side instead of just going at the goalkeeper.
“It was a stupid goal to concede at a bad time but the boys didn’t give up, they kept going and we got more intensity late in the game and that was maybe our advantage because I think Barnet were more (trying to) defend the one-goal lead and we wanted to make it happen, and nearly score a second goal.”
Indeed, the Fleet could have easily won it in the end with Joe Martin heading wide from a Josh Wright corner late on.
“Yes, we could have and that’s a positive sign but we haven’t and that’s the point of critics,” reflected Kutrieb.
“When you’re struggling in the table you need to make sure you get the three points because one point is not really helping you. It’s helping us because it’s a good performance but it’s not helping us get high up in the table because that’s what we desperately need to do.
“That’s what the club asks to do because no-one wants to be in a relegation battle or spot. We are in a relegation battle but as soon as we understand what we have to do, the basics that we need, then we have a good chance to get out of this.”
Kutrieb praised the returning Martin, who got through 90 minutes at the heart of his defence, and also revealed there was illness in the camp during the week.
“Joe Martin was really good, I like him a lot,” said Kutrieb. “At the beginning of the season he was playing and we had a few clean sheets. You can see he is clinical in defending, he wouldn’t let anyone past him as that’s his strength.
“Luke O’Neill was ill, Hayden White and Greg Cundle both played ill, so we’ve struggled a lot over the week with illness but I was happy we had nearly everyone available. That makes me even more proud that we got this result.”
