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Ebbsfleet United manager Kevin Watson says it’s impossible to play on their Stonebridge Road pitch.
The Fleet lost 1-0 to play-off hopefuls Stockport County on Saturday but – not for the first time this season – much of the talk post-match was about the dreadful playing surface.
“I would like to see anyone run with the ball on that pitch without it playing tricks on them,” said Watson.
“It’s next to impossible to play the way I would like us to on that pitch.
“We’ve shown this year we like to pass the ball and we’ve got players that want to play that way.
“Stockport are where they are from doing the basics well, if it bounces around they hook it and turn you.
“Every time we did that in the second half we looked like we were going to get in. You have to take the risk out of it on this pitch.”
It was in stark contrast to Fleet’s midweek win at Maidenhead when they were able to move the ball around on a much better surface.
Instead, players were slipping over on regular occasions and the ball just dies in some areas of the pitch at Stonebridge Road.
“The ball doesn’t run true on their at the best of times,” said Watson.
“I can’t criticise any part of their effort. They tried to play the right way and tried to get it into the front boys.
“You can see how difficult it is to stand up on that pitch and it’s the same for both teams. You can’t keep your feet on it but we can’t do anything about that.
“The wind dried it out but that just made it like a gluepot so it was difficult all round.”
A glaring miss in stoppage time from Ebbsfleet’s Jermaine McGlashan meant the hosts were left empty-handed but even a draw wouldn’t have helped their cause too much, according to Watson.
“Glash had a glorious chance at the end to nick a point,” said Watson. “But let’s get it right, points are not really good for us anyway, we need to win games.
“Josh (Umerah) has gone through twice and I think slashed at a couple, Adam Mekki put a great ball in first half which just drifted wide when you need someone arriving to get on the end of that.
“There’s 27 points to play for. I listened to the results as we came off and if Glash had put that in as I’d expect him to then it’s another point when all around us have got zero.
“That’s the difficult thing to take, it was a missed opportunity for us.
“I’m not going to criticise my players, they put in a magnificent effort, we just need to be more ruthless in front of goal. Everyone could see we’re having a go.
“You’ve got to control the controllables and get your own house in order. We’ve gone down by the odd goal. There wasn’t much in the game. We didn’t work their keeper enough, it was just end product.”
