Ebbsfleet manager Danny Searle has told his players to stick to the plan - and then blame him if it doesn’t work.

Searle felt his players went off-script after a fast start against 10-man Gateshead in the National League on Saturday before they got back on track in the second half.

Two mistakes proved costly just before half-time as the visitors went into the break ahead despite a numerical disadvantage but Rakish Bingham’s second-half hat-trick ensured Ebbsfleet came up smiling with a 4-2 victory.

It was the perfect response from the midweek loss at Aldershot and Searle wants his players to take the lessons on board.

“It’s not about what I learned, it was about what the players learned,” stated the Fleet boss.

“They found out that if we are confident, if we are together and we stick to the plan then when it does go wrong, we go back to the plan.

“Then, actually, we can still get good, positive results out of games even if we are up against it at times.

“That’s the biggest lesson for the squad - just stick with the plan. We work hard on what we do so trust us and if it does go wrong then I can look myself in the mirror and say that was my fault today.”

There was an element of panic just before half-time as the Fleet conspired to turn an advantage into a deficit with two defensive slip-ups.

“You probably saw me gesturing to everyone just to relax and calm down in the first half,” explained Searle. “We had an extra man and we’re a very good footballing team so I thought it would pay off.

“Everything that they caused us in the first half, we caused ourselves. They had one or two passages of play when we thought we had to be careful but a lot of it was initiated from us.

“It was just about resetting and going back to basics. We did that in the second half and every time we went forward we looked like we were going to score a goal. That’s what we expect from the boys.

“Credit to the lads as it’s not easy when you’re 2-1 down against 10 men as they’re going to sit in but we showed resilience and good quality. Over the 90 minutes, we deserved the three points.”

Searle is hoping his players will trust him even more after his words of wisdom at the break came to fruition.

“If I was worried then the team talk would have been a little bit different but it was ‘let’s eradicate silly mistakes, don’t take unnecessary risks in areas we don’t have to’.” explained Searle.

Report: Ebbsfleet 4-2 Gateshead

“When I say direct, I don’t mean long, but we were direct in the first half in the sense that every time we got on the ball we wanted to play forward and be aggressive. That’s what got us success.

“It was a calm half-time team talk, ‘just relax and trust me’ and luckily it worked. Hopefully that builds a little bit more trust. It was what it was but we had to deal with it and the lads bounced back well.”