Delighted Ebbsfleet manager Daryl McMahon refuses to get carried away despite his side climbing to the top of Vanarama National League South on Saturday.

McMahon's men made it four straight wins and extended their perfect away record with a hard-fought 2-0 success against Margate at Hartsdown Park while previous leaders Bath City were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Hemel Hempstead.

McMahon was thrilled with his side's battling derby win, but played down the significance of going top, adding: "It's still early, it's still September, so there's still a long way to go."

Despite eye-catching goals in either half from Kenny Clark and Jordan Parkes proving the difference against third-bottom Gate, McMahon singled out keeper Brandon Hall for praise.

Hall dived to his left to parry a drive from Nathan Green just moments before Clark's opener late in the first half and then flew across his goal at the other end to keep out Danny Green's swerving shot when Gate were piling on the pressure midway through the second half.

McMahon said: "Brandon made two good saves today. The timing of first the goal made a huge difference to the game and Brandon's save was big.

"His concentration levels are fantastic back there - sometimes you don't have a lot to do - and he had a couple of big saves for us."

He added: "I thought it was difficult in the first half. They put us under pressure to be fair to them, going down the hill and playing with the wind but I thought we coped with it really well and then we got the goal.

"It was a great time to score the goal and a good win again.

"I think in the second half we did really well. The first 10 minutes were pretty difficult again, they were pretty direct and it was hard to get out but after that we broke really well."

McMahon also backed Fleet's Kent rivals to come good, despite Saturday's defeat leaving Gate with just four points from their opening nine games.

McMahon said: "They have got good players, they have been a bit unfortunate. They have a good manager and staff who've got lots of experience. They have lost some really good players but I don't envisage them staying too long down the bottom to be honest.

"Our thing today was to make sure we weren't going to be the team who went in and turned things around for them so we're delighted to get a 2-0 win."

Ebbsfleet return to Stonebridge Road to host Sutton on Tuesday (7.45pm).