Defender Marvel Ekpiteta will stay at Ebbsfleet for the rest of the season.

Ekpiteta is on loan from League 2 Newport but Fleet boss Kevin Watson has revealed that a deal has been agreed to keep him at the club until April.

“Marv will be staying with us for the rest of the season,” said Watson, who worked with Ekpiteta previously at Bishop’s Stortford and Hungerford.

“He’s a great lad to have around and is not out of place at this level.

“When I was at Bishop’s Stortford I wanted him to play at centre-half and we had a discussion when he said ‘I’m not a centre-half, I’m a right-back’. He ended up playing centre-half for me and was player of the season.

“I took him to Hungerford as a centre-half where he played brilliantly and got his move to Newport. He’s come here and is playing right-back but has said to me can he be considered for centre-half which is quite funny really!”

It’s a busy period on and off the pitch for Watson. While the games come thick and fast, the Fleet boss is also spending much of his time working on reshaping his squad in January.

Loan deals for Alex Reid, Josh Payne and Tyler Cordner all expire after Saturday’s trip to Barrow while keeper Jordan Holmes is away after the New Year’s Day clash with Dagenham on international duty.

“Games and training are about 20 per cent of what goes on as a football manager, the other 80 per cent is all politics, behind the scenes, players and contracts – that’s what a manager is,” said Watson.

“I’m enjoying it and loving every minute. If I see performances with positive results then I’m going to love it even more.

“I’ve said all along you can identify players and you can want players, but it’s about do they want to come here and scrap at the bottom of the National League. So it’s easier said than done.

“You can see from the loan boys that we have, they are all in it together. They’re all up for a fight and if any player comes in then they’ve got be aware of that.

“We are in a scrap to stay in this division, it’s as simple as that.”

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Holmes is part of the Australia under-23s squad aiming to qualify for the 2020 Olympics at the AFC U23 Championship in Thailand.

That means Watson either needs to put his trust in back-up Harry Palmer again or bring in a new keeper as Holmes could be absent for most of the month.

“Jordan goes away on January 2,” confirmed Watson. “It depends who is available, whether someone comes in as first choice or as number two to Harry. That’s something we’re working on.”

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