Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb insists his team are on an upward curve despite their poor run of form.

The Fleet drew 1-1 at bottom side AFC Fylde last Saturday and went down 3-0 to in-form Southend on Tuesday night.

On the back of their FA Cup exit to lower-league Slough, it’s just one win in 12 games for Kutrieb’s men.

But the man in charge can see light at the end of the tunnel with his team’s performances ahead of Saturday’s National League game at home to Dagenham.

“I think we are going in the right direction,” said Kutrieb. “We needed time. I can see an improvement from last week to Saturday to Tuesday night.

“We had some good moments at Southend and they’re a good side so from that point of view, I know it’s a 3-0 defeat, I saw some positive things and I’m looking forward to playing on Saturday again.

“We desperately need a win now. The boys need to feel that winning feeling, to be successful and get three points on the board so we can build from there.

“Sometimes in football, it goes the other way, like it is at the moment. We need to accept that we suffer at the moment as when you accept it then you can change it, not if you moan about it or try to find excuses.

“Everyone knows if they were good or bad individually because I saw some really good performances on Tuesday and some really bad performances, that’s just how it is.

“That’s positive because when everyone starts to look after themselves then they will be fine. We’re building at the moment and we will get better.”

Ebbsfleet handed a debut to 21-year-old centre-back Mustapha Olagunju, who has joined on loan from Huddersfield until the end of January.

He made an impressive start. Olagunju was arguably the Fleet’s best player in the Southend defeat and looked comfortable bringing the ball out of defence.

“I always said if we find something that’s a good fit for us then we’d do something,” said Kutrieb, who refused to rule out making further signings.

“I think he was very good in his first game and he’ll get better. We need to make sure we give him the time to settle in but it was an excellent individual performance, he grew into the game.”

Kutrieb admitted his side needed to be more ruthless in the final third at Southend.

They had a couple of clear-cut chances in the first half but were unable to take advantage, while two crisp strikes from outside the area put the hosts in charge either side of the break.

“We lost 3-0 but I saw positive things,” said Kutrieb. “We had chances in the first half, we had to be ruthless like our opponents.

“They scored two worldies and they go in for them as they have (momentum) on their side. We need to work hard to get the luck on our side. If we start to be ruthless then it will be different.

“It's not often we have a 3-0 defeat and I go home with a positive feeling. I’ve been down and disappointed but I saw something that I liked so we need to make sure we build on it and we’ll be back to where we want to be.

“I’ve mixed feelings, we are building and I could see that. Yes, they put pressure on us but we had chances to score as well.

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“In the second half I felt we were on top of them but we couldn’t score. We had one really good chance with Hayden White and if we scored there then it’s a different story.

“The second goal from them was fantastic, he won’t score one like that this season but that’s how it’s going at the moment. They’re a good side, so you have to give credit to them -a great crowd, a tight group and they are close together with their fans. They left everything on the pitch and it was a deserved win, but we had our moments.”