Ebbsfleet manager Danny Searle was singing the praises of on-loan star Bryant Bilongo after his dream debut on Saturday.

Bilongo scored the opener and made another as the Fleet ran out convincing 3-0 winners at home to Eastleigh in the National League.

The 22-year-old joined the club on loan from Championship outfit Middlesbrough until the end of the season at the start of the month.

But Searle revealed that it was his attitude and performances in training this week that convinced him to change his starting line-up.

“The fortunate thing with my background in academy football before I went into management is that I’ve got good contacts at clubs,” said Searle.

“I had two good conversations with the staff at Boro about him, obviously they’re ‘you’ve got to play him’. I understand that but we had to build some stability at first.

“One of the messages that’s been clear from the day I’ve come in the building is I’m really focused on training. It means a lot to me and how you conduct yourself and the manner you train - how you are around the group, how you deal with mistakes and react to certain situations.

“I made him travel to Chesterfield last week because we didn’t know about one of the players and then on the day I told him that he’s not in the squad and he took it like a professional.

“He trained this week and was phenomenal so you’re going to get an opportunity under me if that’s how you conduct yourself. I think we, as a club, reaped the rewards of that as I thought he was very good.

“He has belief in his ability and when you have that, you want the ball all the time and when you do get it, you try and make things happen. That’s one of the things that we’re trying to bring into the club.

“As you can see from the way we play, I love us to dominate the ball, but it’s got to be with a purpose and it’s got to be effective.

“Some of the play in the second half we were outstanding but we have to remember that we’re going to play against a lot of tough sides and it’s not always going to work.

“It’s not always going to be like that. There were a couple of times during the game when, even though we were in possession, I didn’t think we secured the pitch as well as I would have liked.

“The two forwards for Eastleigh, most clubs in the league would take them and we kept them relatively quiet, there were a couple of glimpses in the first half but second half we were much better.”

Bilongo was announced as a defender by the Fleet when he joined the club, but he played in a more advanced position against Eastleigh.

Searle believes Bilongo has the qualities to adapt to various roles between now and the end of the season.

“I think he’s got tools to do a lot of different positions, to be fair,” added the Fleet boss. “If you look at him, he’s good in the air, he’s good with his feet, he’s quick, he’s strong.

“So, the way we want to play he could probably have played several positions. We knew they were stronger going forward on the right-hand side so we knew he would wrap him up and, not only that, he would cause him problems going the other way.

“Then it’s over to him, can you go and deliver? He’s still got a lot to learn and there’s a few little bits and moments where he gets excited but that’s all part of his development.”

Report: Ebbsfleet 3-0 Eastleigh

It was a first win under Searle’s stewardship for Ebbsfleet after two games in interim charge.

They’re still in the bottom four but it was another huge step forward, both in terms of a result and the performance, towards safety.

“The two points were something we needed to build on,” admitted Searle. “The bounce, vibe and intensity we had in training has been outstanding this week and we saw the benefits of that.

“I thought we were good in the first half and the second half was all about can we go up another gear and we proved that we can.

“It was really small detail in the first half that cost us good goalscoring opportunities. In the second half we could have scored six or seven with the quality and intensity of our play.”

The defeat also left Eastleigh just four points above the National League relegation zone and without a clean sheet in 26 games. They axed boss Richard Hill less than two hours after the final whistle.