Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb admitted he’s been left annoyed by some of their early-season defending.

The Fleet’s mixed start to life in the National League continued last weekend with an impressive 3-0 win over Kidderminster followed by a 3-2 defeat at Barnet on Monday.

Three clean sheets have yielded three victories so far but the Fleet have also conceded nine goals in three defeats.

“It’s very annoying because they can do it,” said Kutrieb. “On Monday, we just switched off.

“The first goal was nearly half-time and maybe we switched off already. The second one we were a bit unorganised. The third goal was bad as it was our own possession. We made a stupid decision and then I don’t know if he was offside or not.

“They weren’t all the same goals but we need to find the right backline which is able to defend man-for-man because you could see against Gateshead it was Stephen Wearne who scored three goals, on Monday it was Nicke Kabamba.

“We need to make sure if the opponent has a very good player that we keep him out of the game. Apart from that we defended quite well but if there is a good player, we need to make sure he can’t score too many or easy goals.

“That’s where we have to learn and improve. When you score two goals away from home you need to make sure you win the game of football.”

Kutrieb believes his side should have a greater return than nine points from their first six games.

“We have three wins and three defeats and that’s not good enough,” added the Fleet boss. “We have to be honest there.

“When you put the six games together, we could and should have more points on the board. This is the reality and now we have to make sure that we learn from it.

“We have to take things on board that we have to improve and the most important thing is we can see it and identify it. We’re not saying we don’t know what’s happened.

“I think it would be a completely different game with Jake Wakely on the pitch, he’s had a great five games for us and if he’s in the middle I’m convinced we don’t concede three goals, as simple as that.”

Striker Dominic Poleon took his tally for the campaign to six goals in five games with a brace against both Kidderminster and Barnet.

The summer transfer window for Football League clubs closes on Friday night but Kutrieb isn’t concerned about potential interest in his leading scorer.

“I don’t expect anything at the moment because he is on contract with us and feels very comfortable with us,” said Kutrieb.

“I’m pretty sure there is nothing for me to be concerned about. If it would be the case, it’s football, and you can’t plan anything in football anyway, you can see that with the Premier League and Saudi Arabia and so many other things.

“At this moment in time in football, nothing is really sure. Anything can happen but I’m not concerned at this moment in time and I’m just proud of him that he can do the same that what he did last season.”

Poleon scored 38 goals last season and has already looked at home in the division above. Kutrieb isn’t surprised he’s already had a big impact.

“That’s what he was breeding last season, and when you score nearly 40 goals in one year then you have confidence,” he noted. “It shouldn’t change, he will get the chances and you just need to put them away.

“I’m just proud of him, I know he is able to do it all day long. As long as we keep working hard together and try to improve him more and more, he will score even more goals.

“I’m not surprised that he scored on Monday, it’s unfortunate for him that we couldn’t get a win as I think he deserved it. Hopefully we can do the same on Saturday.”

The Fleet host a York side who parted company with manager Mikey Morton on Monday at Stonebridge Road this weekend.

They’ve taken just three points from their first six games and have been kept off the foot of the table only by Southend’s points deduction.