Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb knows what went wrong at Kidderminster on Saturday – but he’s going to keep it in-house.

The Fleet manager cut a frustrated figure after two big decisions went against his team just before half-time.

But he admitted his team had to look at their own performance.

“Despite having decisions that go against you, we just haven’t been good enough for 65 minutes,” said Kutrieb.

“That’s more what we can focus on instead of referees making key decisions wrong as they won’t change anyway.

“It’s small margins. I did a massive mistake because I didn’t get the boys right, didn’t get them going so we could do it from the first minute and that’s on me, no-one else.

“If they’re not ready then I’ve done something wrong on the preparation for the game. Maybe they were not aware enough that the intensity is so high here, maybe I should have picked other players instead of going with the same 11. There’s a few things where I will look back and make sure we get it right for the next game.

“I know exactly what was missing and I know exactly what went wrong. That’s something we need to organise inside the team and nothing for the newspaper!

“We need to make sure we do it better and get it right. I saw some things during the week, and I could have done some things differently today but I decided against it. This is what I’m talking about.”

Kutrieb was asked about the refereeing performance as the man in the middle failed to produce a second yellow card for Amari Morgan-Smith just moments before Kidderminster took the lead. He then amazingly allowed a quick free-kick to be taken despite starting the process of putting foam down.

The Fleet boss was clearly holding back, aware that he can’t say too much without running the risk of the FA handing him a fine.

“It’s frustrating but that’s the truth,” said Kutrieb. “It’s often the case that you need to get on with things that you’re not happy with and that’s part of the job.

“It doesn’t really matter (if you see the referee afterwards) as you don’t get the responses anyway. They will try to protect each other and say this and that but it’s obvious to see for everyone. It’s frustrating for us but you can’t change it.

“It was very frustrating and I’m fuming to be honest. We need to look at ourselves, the last 25 minutes we played really well but the first 65 was not good enough for us. We prepared to be ready for this game but it was not good enough.

“It’s always small decisions and small margins, you need to make sure you get it right as a manager, you need to make sure you get it right as a player and you need to get it right as a referee. Straight in front of me I don’t know how he cannot book an opponent, second yellow and they are down to 10 men and we play a different game of football.

“The next situation they score and then the referee already put his foam down for the line and let the player play a quick free-kick, I’ve never seen this in my life. I’m pretty sure we’ll get an apology from PGMOL and say it shouldn’t have counted but at the end of the day it was an uphill battle.

Report: Kidderminster 2-0 Ebbsfleet

“They will say we’re sorry and the goal shouldn’t have counted. That’s all I can say and have to say.

“We made enough mistakes, the referee made enough mistakes, he made crucial mistakes, we made crucial mistakes and the opponent hasn’t done so many mistakes like us and the referee and that’s why they are the deserved winner.

“We definitely can’t afford to gift points away for not doing enough in 65 minutes. That’s not affordable, especially for the second half of the season.”