Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb is happy to put his attacking style on the backburner if it helps the club avoid relegation.

The Fleet conceded both possession and territory at home to Wealdstone last weekend but ran out 2-0 winners to boost their National League survival hopes.

It wasn’t pretty on the eye at times but Kutrieb is willing to sacrifice style in the months ahead if that’s what it takes to steer his side away from danger.

Getting three points can only help the Fleet boss in getting his players into buying into this approach.

“Results will always show the boys that it is possible, so I think this was crucial for us,” explained Kutrieb.

“Did I enjoy the game on Saturday? No, not at all. But it doesn’t matter because we need to win games of football. That’s the only thing that’s important.

“I always enjoy it when I win our games of football but if this is the style of football we have to play, then we’ll play it. I don’t have a problem at all.

“I said at the beginning of pre-season, and the end of last season, if we need to adjust things we will do it, and we’ll do it game by game. It doesn’t mean we will play like this for the rest of the season but maybe we do. It will depend on the opponent.

“We knew Wealdstone would be comfortable to keep the ball and they did it without any danger, although late in the game they bombarded our box with crosses. But I felt comfortable and it wasn’t like against Eastleigh when they had two amazing heading strikers up front and we can’t let them cross the ball to them.

“I was confident that if Wealdstone crossed the ball in, we were stronger than them and that’s why it was the gameplan for that game.”

That gameplan included playing Dominic Samuel further forward and Dominic Poleon joining the attack from a wider role.

“We knew they had a small centre-back in the middle and we knew Dominic Samuel is able to head a ball,” added Kutrieb. “It’s not like that’s the position where we need to get Dominic Samuel in now.”

It was only a third league win in 21 games for Ebbsfleet, their first home success since the end of September.

While the victory wasn’t enough to move them out of the relegation zone, it keeps Ebbsfleet in touch with the sides immediately above them.

Kutrieb wants them to get out of trouble sooner rather than later, knowing games will quickly run out in the second half of the season.

“It’s massive because we need points, we can’t afford not to win games,” stated the Fleet boss. “We’re in the middle of a relegation battle and you can always say we have so many games left but at one point you need to start.

“We had a few results (Barnet and York) where we didn’t win but we got a point. That’s why it’s so important to win games as it’s points on the board that we so desperately need at the moment.”

On the character that his players showed, Kutrieb added: “I never doubted it. I’ve said in every single interview, I don’t doubt the character from the boys.

“It’s tough when you get promoted and you’re used to winning and then you lose and lose. It’s not easy, sometimes you can’t get out of it because you’re struggling too much.

“The boys showed they really wanted to turn it around, especially defensively we were so solid. That’s what we have to do, if we do that every single game for the rest of the campaign then we have a good chance to win games.

“But if we think we’re good and we’ve found a solution now then it won’t be the solution. The solution is that we need to work hard as a team, we need to defend as a team and then we’ll have good chances to win games of football.”

The Fleet boss also disclosed that the club could look to extend the loan of Huddersfield centre-back Mustapha Olagunju, who impressed earlier in the season before being ruled out by injury.

“We’re still waiting,” said Kutrieb. “His loan is to the end of January and we don’t know if he’ll come back or not. We’re already getting to mid-January so it’s more unlikely we will see him this month.

“We’ll see if we can extend or not but that’s a decision we have to make and where we are in talks to see what we can do.”

Ebbsfleet are without a game this weekend following their early exit from the FA Trophy.