Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb didn’t accept everything was bad after their 5-2 humbling at Dulwich on Saturday.

The Fleet led 2-1 at half-time after goals from Alfie Egan and Jack Paxman but shipped four second-half goals as they suffered a third successive National League South defeat.

It seen them drop six points behind leaders Dartford but Kutrieb insists there won’t be any knee-jerk reactions.

“Not everything was bad, definitely not,” said the Fleet boss. “We saw a few good things, in some areas we were a bit more shaky than before but that’s normal when you’ve had two losses in a row and the opponent puts pressure on you. It’s always possible that they get a little bit nervous in areas.

“We will work on that and we won’t lose our head. When we won all the games, I never said we were a great team (then). I said so far it was good but now for the last few weeks it’s bad.

“When we won games I said some areas were not good, now it’s the other way around, not everything is bad. We keep working, we get a few injured players back next week and our shape will look different.”

Kutrieb felt Ebbsfleet’s mindset was wrong at the start of the second half against Dulwich as they were more concerned about what they could lose instead of what they could win.

“If you have in your head you can lose something then it’s always a problem,” he noted. “When you have the feeling that you can win something that’s a good set up for your mind.

“But when you start to think you can lose something, normally you have lost straight away because it’s the wrong mindset. That was my feeling during the second half (that the players) had the feeling we could lose something today and that’s the wrong mindset.

“It was in their heads after the first few minutes of the second half and they couldn’t react in the second half.”

Fleet could point to Will Wood hitting the woodwork just before half-time or two penalty appeals in either half which were turned down.

It meant the final scoreline was not a true reflection of the game and Kutrieb was keen not to put all the blame at the referee’s door, even if the big decisions went against his side.

“It was a great game for the fans,” said the Fleet boss. “The first half was okay with a 2-1 lead but you could see even then it was a very tight game. Good free-kicks, great chances and hitting the crossbar. Second half they put pressure on us and played a great game.

“Of course, I can talk about referees again, it’s so hard to say for me because when you lose 5-2 you feel a little bit embarrassed to talk about the referee but I can’t understand even the first half, clear penalty, second half, clear penalty.

“We didn’t get anything and it’s tough for me to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about it but everyone who knows football knows it has a great impact on the game. We have to regroup, shake it off and we have seven days to go until the next tough game.

“You never know in football, anything can happen. I can’t say it was a 5-2 game, it was end to end and interesting to see for a spectator. There was good quality from both sides from a technical point of view.

“I know players get affected from it, when you don’t get the 50-50, but you can’t lose the game like we lost. We showed in the first half we can be resistant and have the lead. It’s not time for finding excuses but everyone knows it has an impact.”