Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb is putting points before performances despite an exciting start to the season.

The Fleet, complete with six new faces, opened the National League South season with a comprehensive 3-0 win over 10-man Chippenham last Saturday.

Summer signing Omari Sterling-James caught the eye with his blistering pace and silky skills while Toby Edser and the returning Darren McQueen both netted.

“Omari has good pace and is a good footballer and, even more importantly, he’s a good character,” said Kutrieb.

“He fits into our team very well so I’m happy to have him.

“Darren and Toby both came on and scored a goal so they’re good additions and that’s what we were looking for in the close season.

“It’s not about being exciting, it’s about getting the points. If you do it the right way, and that’s what we try to do, then it’s even better and it’s more interesting for everyone, including the fans.

“But for me, at the end of the day, as a manager there’s nothing more important than getting the points.

“We’ve got some interesting players this season, though, and the boys we’ve kept from last year have made an immediate impact - Rakish Bingham, Christian N’Guessan and Chris Solly through the middle gave us a strong spine.”

As with last season, Kutrieb will not be making any judgements about his players until they’ve played 10 games.

He feels there will be enough evidence to assess their chances at that stage.

“You can always see after 10 games where you are because you have a different amount of challenges in those matches,” added the Fleet boss.

“On Saturday we had the challenge of starting the first game, then being a goal up and having one man more. It was a good challenge for us because we got it done in a good way.

“I will judge us after 10 games as then I can see where we are. Then we’ll have another time to judge us and see where we are in the winter time after Boxing Day.

“They are my two steps where I try to make big measurements and make judgements for us about where we are.

“We will learn by every game. We will know a little bit more by the end of August as we would have played six games, and then at the FA Cup break we will know exactly where we are and where we need to improve.

“I’m happy to leave the first game with no negative thoughts, we could and should have scored more goals but I can take it if we score three and, even more important, get a clean sheet.”

Kutrieb revealed that he was confident of taking all three points against Chippenham after a pleasing pre-season programme, and he’d already played his starting XI in their warm-up matches.

“Anything can happen in the first game but I was convinced before the game [that we’d win] because I saw Chippenham’s pre-season and they had many trialists, were always changing the team and couldn’t play with the first XI and even against us they had a few players missing and others were thrown in straight away,” said the Fleet boss.

“We played with the same XI against Herne Bay and against Colchester it was almost the same team, that comes if you don’t have problems with injuries.

“I’m happy about it but the most important thing is that we keep on going and build on the first game.”

The Fleet face the challenge of two away games inside three days, visiting Weymouth on Saturday and then Eastbourne on Tuesday night.

Kutrieb believes it will be an early chance to utilise his vast playing squad.

“We can make changes if we have to and bring other players in who haven’t been in the squad,” he said.

“Alex Finney, Sido Jombati and Elliott Romain played in the play-off final but were not involved on Saturday so we definitely have a good depth.

“We need to keep our feet on the ground, it was really exciting but Weymouth is not getting easier.

“We need to consider what we do because three days later we have a tough game again. We might do a few changes for Saturday and then a few again on Tuesday, not go with the same team in both games.

“We have a big squad so now is the first time that everyone can step up but we’ll make that decision during the week.

“It’s important to have a good start but it’s not all about the start. It’s not a 100m run, it’s a marathon and you need to make sure that you can go the whole way.

“We need to be ready for every single challenge, we will have enough challenges and the next one is straight away this Saturday at Weymouth.

“Then we go Tuesday against Eastbourne so there’s a challenge for everyone in the league, but especially for us because two away games with a little bit more travelling, as it’s not like going to a Welling or Tonbridge.”