Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb has urged his team to get on a winning run - before it’s too late.

The Fleet have fallen 10 points behind National League South leaders Dorking Wanderers.

They’ve won just twice in their last six games and have not put back-to-back wins together since the start of January.

There are 15 games left and Kutrieb has told his players to raise their game, starting with Saturday’s trip to Havant.

“We need to be clinical, that’s a matter of fact,” stated the Fleet boss. “It’s not going our way at the moment but we just need to go again against Havant. It’s going to be a tough game but we need to make it better.

“If we get the three points the world looks a little bit better for me.

“There’s 15 games left, it’s not 25 or 30 anymore. It’s getting closer so you need to start winning games now if you want to be a title contender.

“We don’t need to watch the table, it doesn’t matter. You have to make sure you win your games. If you win your games and look at the table then you’ll be in the area where you (want to) be.

“I’m not a friend of watching the table all the time (because) it doesn’t matter if you don’t win games.”

While the Fleet are not having the rub of the green in recent weeks, Kutrieb also feels there are other areas they can improve on.

One is their mental strength and responding to setbacks. He wants them to toughen up, whatever the challenge that is thrown in front of his players.

“We lack the mentality at the moment to say we definitely win the game,” explained Kutrieb.

“It doesn’t matter if we are one goal or two goals down, if we concede a red card, an early penalty - whatever it is. That’s a mentality thing that we need to grow as a team.

“That’s not coming overnight. That needs to grow and the easiest way is with confidence. When you don’t have confidence because of the results then it’s even more complicated.

“We need to focus and keep going forward because in a defeat you find positives and in a win you find negatives. We just need to focus on the reality and the truth, and don’t get carried away with the result, whether it’s a 5-0 win or a 2-1 defeat, you need to see the pictures on the pitch and where you need to improve.”

Fleet’s trip to Havant this weekend sees Kutrieb go head-to-head again with Hawks manager Paul Doswell.

There’s no love lost between the pair, with their last two meetings both overshadowed by events off the field.

Both managers saw red during the corresponding fixture last season with Doswell subsequently given a six-match ban by the FA.

“It was more issues from my side, not issues for the team so we’ll try to take it as normal as we can, especially from my side,” explained Kutrieb.

“We’ll prepare as good as we can so that we are able to get three points from our approach on the pitch, not what happens off the pitch or around it. That was just about me, not the team. The team is fine so we’ll go there and hopefully get the three points.”

When asked about how the Fleet boss will interact with his opposite number, Kutrieb responded: “I can’t tell you, I try not to overthink it before.

“The problem is always when the technical areas are so tight together.

“I know what I can expect and what will come, I will definitely be prepared and will just try to focus on our team. It’s important, three points on the road, and we need to focus on that and not on other things.”