Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb believes Darren McQueen can score 20 goals this season - if he puts his mind to it.

McQueen bagged a National League brace on Saturday to help the Fleet beat Boreham Wood 3-1 at Stonebridge Road.

Employed in a more attacking role, McQueen repaid the faith shown in him by the manager.

“I told him to show confidence and do what you’re able to do as you can damage opponents,” revealed Kutrieb.

“He just needed to believe it. He did a good job for us and it was nice to see him score two goals.

“He could score 15-20 goals in this league but it’s about him and his approach, not me or his team-mates.

“He had a great approach today and I’m very proud of him.

“It was a great game and we matched the intensity of Boreham Wood. We had some great moments.

“If we find someone who can protect him and he can make more of an impact going forward then he has enough power to do (that role).

“He will always score his goals when he approaches the game in the right way.”

The victory ended a run of five games without a win for the Fleet.

Kutrieb felt that the key was winning their individual battles around the pitch.

“You will always have times in football when you have to overcome tough spells,” said Kutrieb.

“No-one can tell me it’s over and now we go and win every game of football again like last season.

“You need to be aware of what’s around the corner and waiting for you in the next game.

“The most important thing was the players on the pitch were on it and they wanted to win the game and win their battles.

“That’s the basic in the National League where you need to win your 50/50s and get on top of your opponent.

“Then when we got our tactical things on and played football on the floor, we escaped many times when they wanted to press us up high. They couldn’t because we came out many times and it looked easy, but it wasn’t easy. We did well on the floor and that’s good to see.

“Sometimes you need to change players in different roles, that’s important for me as a manager when you don’t have the whole squad available. Everyone adapted very well so I’m proud.”

One of those to impress was David Amoo, who was used in a central role.

He led the line well in the absence of injured leading scorer Dominic Poleon.

“That’s what we needed, we needed someone up top who could hold the ball up well,” added Kutrieb.

“You saw on Tuesday (against Dorking) that Nathan tried hard but he’s almost a little boy and is fighting against grown men so he started to struggle a little bit.

“But he has other attributes where he can help us massively. It was important we had someone high up the pitch who wasn’t going to get bullied and could hold up the ball.”

Kutrieb shuffled his pack around, using the likes of Chris Solly, Ben Chapman and Franklin Domi in different roles.

But it worked a treat as Ebbsfleet had too much for Boreham Wood in all departments.

“It was an outstanding team performance,” reflected Kutrieb. “It was not like someone turned up individually and had a great game and could get a winner for us.

“We were positive in every single duel on the pitch, tried to win our 50/50s, and were a bit more tenacious than our opponent.

Report: Ebbsfleet 3-1 Boreham Wood

“Boreham Wood are a good side and reached the play-offs last season and just because they’re very tenacious and want to win their battles all over the pitch but we were all over them from the first minute and that was nice to see.

“It was a good tactical game, we had it spot-on. The boys understood their roles very well and we could execute the gameplan very well, I’m pleased about that.”