They may have made a slow start to the season but Havant & Waterlooville can cause league leaders Ebbsfleet problems on Saturday, insists manager Daryl McMahon.

Fleet head to Hampshire four points clear at the top of Vanarama National League South while Havant are 14th with just 11 points from their 10 games so far.

Lee Bradbury's side were second-favourites behind Ebbsfleet in the bookmakers' pre-season title market with many seeing them as promotion candidates.

"I still think they are," McMahon said. "They brought in a lot of new players in the summer and they signed another two this week (Benin international Ramuald Boco and ex-Fleet winger Lanre Azeez).

"Sometimes it just takes time to settle everyone in, settle down and get a pattern of how you want to play.

"Lee’s a good manager and since I’ve been at Ebbsfleet we’ve always had difficult games against Havant. I don’t see it being any different on Saturday.

"They got beat against Whitehawk, late (on Tuesday) but it’ll be a difficult game going down there on Saturday, there’s no doubt about that."

Midfielder Dean Rance is available after suspension so McMahon must decide whether or not to stick with the team which started Tuesday night's 1-0 win over Sutton United.