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Ebbsfleet boss Kevin Watson knows his team cannot afford to keep playing a man short.
The Fleet finished with 10 men for the third game running on Saturday as they lost 2-0 at home to Harrogate in the National League.
Josh Payne saw red for two yellow cards in the space of three minutes – both for late tackles.
“You’re not going to win games with 10 men,” said Watson.
“You can forget anything else. We weren’t playing great, apart from the first half-hour. It was a poor game of football, I wasn’t enjoying watching it. It was lacklustre.
“I wouldn’t say we downed tools but it’s about knowing where to run, running in the right areas, decision-making – when to have a touch, when to play behind them, when you know you’re going to get caught on the ball.
“You’ve got to keep 11 players on the pitch to be competitive and to have any chance in any game. Three games in a row – it’s not good enough.”
Already a goal down, the writing was on the wall for Ebbsfleet when Payne’s lack of discipline left referee Kirsty Dowle no choice but to reach for the red card.
“The fact we went down to 10 men (killed the game off),” added Watson.
“I wasn’t overly pleased with how we were playing and I could have made three subs at half-time, and I told them you’ve got 10 minutes to liven up. All three boys were stripped and ready to come on.
“Then one of my most experienced players got sent-off and rightly so. They were two bookable offences within three minutes. I have no issue with the referee sending Josh Payne off.
“We’ve had a chat about discipline. We’re quickly running out of games now and that tried my patience. I’m looking at it and I’m extremely upset with certain aspects, including discipline on the pitch.
“There’s no way I send players out to be sent-off. I wasn’t that type of player. There’s no way any one of my teams gets sent out with the intention of being down to 10 men. You can’t win any game of football with 10 men.”
As well as the red card, Watson was not happy that his team changed their style of play after holding their own against the promotion hopefuls in the opening half-hour.
“We’re taking risks in silly areas of the pitch,” said the Fleet boss.
“That is not a pitch you can go rolling the ball around like Man City or Liverpool, it’s not. So play the conditions, make them run backwards.
“All of a sudden we got above our stations and tried to play in and around our own box. The midfield couldn’t get up the pitch, the back four couldn’t get up the pitch. It’s not being retained at the top of the pitch and therefore you get stuck in your own area and that’s where the goal came from.
“A passage of play, they broke and got a corner, can’t clear the corner properly, don’t tackle properly, don’t head it properly and they hook it in.”
Only the centre-back pairing of Ayo Obileye and Marvel Ekpiteta were praised by Watson.
Ekpiteta was named man-of-the-match by the home sponsors, an award Watson agreed with.
“Ayo and Marv were very good,” he said. “Marv rightly got his champagne and I told him to share it with Ayo.
“A lot of my players have been molly-coddled at academies and when you come to the National League and men’s football, three points are at stake and you’ve got to step up to the plate.
“I’ve singled Marv out in there. I had him at Bishop’s Stortford two years ago which is two divisions below, Hungerford last year, and that is a boy who wants to do well and succeed and go as high as he can.
“I want everyone to share his attitude and enthusiasm for the game because he wants to be as good as he can. I need 16, 17 people like him.”
