Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb heaped praise on hat-trick hero Toby Edser after the champions ended their campaign with a flourish on Saturday.

Edser scored the only goal when these sides met in September and Hungerford must be sick of the sight of him after he bagged a treble at Stonebridge Road in the Fleet’s 5-0 win.

It meant Edser finished the season with 12 league goals to his name – not a bad return for the last player to join Ebbsfleet’s squad in pre-season.

“I saw from the first day when I saw him in training that he’s an outstanding football player and he would be a perfect fit for us,” said Ebbsfleet boss Kutrieb.

“We were just a little bit unsure because we were looking to see if we signed another striker, a target striker who can head the ball and all these things.

“I said to Toby from the first day that I really liked him as a player and if we don’t find a target striker which I would like to have, I don’t sign any other striker, ‘you are my first choice’.

“He was calm and still composed and this is a nice story to end the season, he scored one of the first goals of pre-season at Punjab with exactly the same pattern. All three goals on Saturday were more or less the same.

“He’s a good football player and you can see what they are able to deliver when they are confident and feel good in the camp and the team, and they feel they belong to this team.

“He was a massive help to get promoted, especially after Craig Tanner’s injury, he stepped up massively. He was never a number 10 or box to box, and him and Franklin Domi carried us big time. Others had jobs that were already important, Domi and Edser carried us through the winter time when we got win after win.”

Ebbsfleet bid farewell to National League South with a dominant win over already-relegated Hungerford.

Edser’s opener inside 70 seconds set the tone, and they never really looked like missing out on setting new markers.

The Fleet matched Newport’s record points tally from 2009/10, set a new club record of 32 wins – again equalling Newport’s divisional record – and taking the club’s tally to 110 goals, breaking a Fleet record that was set back in 1957/58.

“It couldn’t have gone any better,” smiled Kutrieb. “It started after a minute and 10 seconds then a good training ground move to get a second goal.

“The second half was all us, we played an outstanding game and it was a great way to finish the season off.

“You can see the last few percentages are missing. When I say this, without being disrespectful, we were still able to win 5-0 and that’s a massive credit to the boys.

“I can see a few differences in every single duel and how we approached it but I’m still proud as it’s still good enough.

“The only thing we wanted to achieve is promotion and that’s what we have done. We had the luxury to play a few games when we were already promoted and that’s credit down to the players. I can understand if a few percentages are missing.

“We scored enough goals, we didn’t concede. I think we achieved everything we could have dreamed of.

“At the beginning of the season when we had 10 wins in a row, we said need to stay humble and get the next one. For us this was a tough time, there’s always pressure on us. They didn’t sit back even on Saturday, they tried to pressure us high up the pitch.

“Everyone who came here raised their game and we still were able to find ways to win games. I’m totally proud of the achievement.

“If we’d just got promoted, I’d still be as happy but to say we’ve scored the most goals, conceded the least in the league, most wins, 103 points is just outstanding, it’s a massive achievement.”