Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb believes his side are showing signs of getting used to the intensity of National League football.

As the Fleet expected, there’s been a marked improvement in the quality of opposition.

Ebbsfleet have already faced different challenges but they sit ninth after 10 games having made a solid start to the season, picking up a point at Woking on Tuesday night having lost narrowly at home to title favourites Chesterfield last Saturday.

“You could see the intensity at Woking and on Saturday against Chesterfield from the opponent - they don’t stop running,” said Kutrieb.

“We had a really fit squad and we could put more on Woking after 60 minutes. That’s what you need to do week in, week out - match the intensity and be able to put something on in the last 30 minutes of games. We need to make sure that we’re on top of that.

“Every team in this league has an idea and a clue, it’s not just playing off the cuff. They want to do things different so we have to be ready for every single challenge. It’s not so much we do what we want to do.

“You saw that we could rarely play on the floor at Woking so we needed to match it up and find a way to still be on our opponent. We were much better at that in the second half and this is a prime example.

“Last season we wouldn’t find a way to come out there, it would just be a challenge we weren’t up for. But now we need to adapt to what the opponent is offering, whether they play on the ball or kick it long, when they have high intensity or whatever it is.

“It’s different on a weekly basis so you need to be up for it.”

The majority of teams have pressed high against Ebbsfleet and while Chesterfield dominated their clash last weekend, the Fleet boss felt there were occasions his side could have capitalised on better.

“There was a good example on Saturday as we broke the press on numerous occasions in the first half but the end product was not good enough,” noted Kutrieb.

“But from them pressing us, us breaking it and then having the space in our opponent’s half, I was pretty happy about it. We were just unlucky not to find that last pass or the final end product.

“At Woking, the opponent pressed really good and with high intensity but they did it for 60 minutes and then we turned up and on another day we could have gone home with a 2-1 win.”

Kutireb made seven changes for the Chesterfield game and another six at Woking. He’ll probably do the same for Saturday’s trip to Altrincham and Tuesday night’s clash at home to Dorking Wanderers.

“With the six games in three weeks, we have experienced players like Chris Solly, Haydn Hollis, Luke O’Neill, Joe Martin,” explained Kutrieb.

“If I play them two or three weeks in a row then they will be gone by Christmas. We need to make sure we get everyone close together as a team so regardless of when we make changes or not, we’re all on the same page.

“If everyone puts the effort in, like we did at Woking in the second half, then there’s no reason not to play them. We can see some quality differences every now and then, when we can say for this opponent, we go with this line-up. But in general we need to be fit altogether as a team and we will get the benefits later on in the season.”

On the absence of Joe Martin, Luke O’Neill and David Amoo at Woking, Kutrieb insisted it was down to not taking unnecessary risks during a busy schedule.

“It was just protecting Joe because he was injured last season for a long time, he’s played five or six in a row and we’ve got a tough period upcoming so I couldn’t risk him getting injured because he played Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday,” said the Fleet boss.

“It’s similar to Luke O’Neill, he played a lot of games last season and all the games this season, he hobbled off on Saturday so there was no need for me to take a risk.

“Amoo is the same, he hasn’t played 90 minutes for ages so having played on Saturday if he played on Tuesday there’s a high risk to me that he’ll pick up an injury.

“We need to make sure we make good and smart decisions to get everyone ready to play as many games as possible.”

While the Fleet were accused of sitting off Chesterfield, they certainly put in an improved display at Woking and had chances to take all three points in the end.

Kutrieb reflected: “Chesterfield will be up in the table and they had some very good individual players. It was never the plan that we just sat back and defended.

“We wanted to be a threat going forward but our decision-making on the day was not good enough. The opponent was good, they didn’t give the ball away and didn’t have many turnovers.

“I was frustrated on Saturday by how we conceded the goal but we had a good performance, defensively, and that’s what we need to focus on.

“It was a good defensive display again at Woking. If we don’t concede more than one goal, we will have a good season as we’ll score our goals.

“I just need to make sure our group is desperate to defend together as a team and when we do it we will be fine. It was not the plan on Saturday but sometimes it is what it is and we have to get on with it.”