Ebbsfleet travel to Gateshead on Saturday knowing a win could lift them into the play-off places.

Garry Hill’s side have taken 13 points from their last five games and are just two points outside the top seven with five games remaining.

A surprise 3-0 home defeat for Eastleigh against Barnet on Tuesday night has left the door open for Fleet to snatch the final spot.

Hill said: “We’re coming at the right time in respect of making a run, with momentum, to hopefully get into the top seven.

“When I look at it over the 21 games we’ve been here, we’ve taken 41 points – six points more than any other club in the league.

“It’s over 46 games, I know that, but we’ll keep battling and see where it takes us.

“We’ve got five cup finals and we’ll hopefully get in the play-off positions.”

It’s a big game for both teams, with Gateshead just three points behind Ebbsfleet with a game in hand.

Neither club paid their players on time last month but Hill hopes football tops the agenda in the North East.

He said: “This is a very special team and they’ve answered a lot of questions which I didn’t expect them to be answering.

“Let’s stick together, keep going to the end of the season and see where it takes us.

“We’ll go to work again. That’s the way you’ve got to do it as football players and hopefully other events get taken care of.

“The players know me. I’m totally honest with them, I’m a discipline man and they respect that.

“I think they respect somebody who can talk to them as individuals and I think they respect somebody who talks to them as a group.”

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• Training ground reveal unpaid bill of £30,000
• Players issue statement against owner Dr Abdulla Al-Humaidi
• Fleet's Andy Drury on the KM Football Podcast