Daryl McMahon was philosophical after Ebbsfleet's FA Cup exit on Tuesday.

A late Hugo Skepelhorn strike handed Chelmsford a 2-1 win at Stonebridge Road on a night when the Fleet created lots of chances but took only one.

McMahon said: "We probably still could be playing now and we wouldn’t score.

"I thought we were superb in the second half. We’ve seen the stats from the game and the amount of entries into their final third, possession and the chances we had was incredible.

"But the most important stat in any football match is the scoreline and they’ve won 2-1.

"They defended for their lives, they defended really well, the same as they did on Saturday and we wish them luck in the next round."

The defeat was McMahon's first as a manager, Ebbsfleet having won 10 of their 11 league matches and drawn the other before Saturday's stalemate in the first cup meeting in Essex.

He said: "I’m not bothered if I’ve lost or not lost as a manager. It was always going to come and like any good team - and we are a good team, that’s why we’re sitting where we are at the top of the table - we’ll bounce back on Saturday (against Maidstone), I’ve got no doubt about that.

"The second-half performance was excellent from us and we’ll take the positives out of that - and we’ll look at the negatives as well.

"When you dominate a second half like we did and have the chances we had, it’s more about you missing chances and your own personal performance rather than the result.

"The FA Cup is not our main priority so we’ll pick the bones over and get ready for Saturday."