Daryl McMahon is relishing Ebbsfleet’s tough start to the season as he bids to finally lead the club to promotion by playing a new brand of ‘risky’ football.

Two years of disappointment at Stonebridge Road have seen two managers fired by the club’s Kuwaiti owners and now McMahon is looking to go one better.

Title favourites Fleet start their Vanarama National League South campaign at home to Basingstoke on Saturday in what will be the 31-year-old’s first game as permanent manager.

With the short trip to play newly-promoted Kent rivals Maidstone to follow on Tuesday, the first week of the season promises a real test of Ebbsfleet’s – and McMahon’s – credentials.

McMahon said: "It’s a brilliant start. We can go and play against a team that finished third last season and reached the play-offs.

"They were a good side last season and they’ve got a good manager in Jason Bristow. I like Jason, he’s a good lad.

"We then follow it up with the derby straight away so it’s two great games for us to start off with."

McMahon knows Ebbsfleet will again be the division’s most prized scalp.

He said: "We’ve just got to get used to it. We can’t control that every other team wants to beat us because of all the rubbish around what we’re doing.

"We’ve got to just be man about it, know what’s going to happen, know the expectations and get on with it."

Having stepped up from his role as academy manager to succeed Jamie Day in the dugout, McMahon wants to bring his playing philosophy from the youth ranks into the first-team arena.

He said: "We’re trying to create a style for Ebbsfleet of how they play. We want to play exciting football and it’s hard to do. We’re not playing safe, we’re moving the ball, we’re passing it.

"We’re playing risky football for this level but it’s enjoyable to play, it’s enjoyable to coach and hopefully it’ll be enjoyable to watch if we get it right."

Full story and seven pages of football season preview coverage in the Gravesend Messenger.