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Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb has warned his team to stop conceding sloppy goals if they want to be title contenders.
The Fleet had to come from behind with 10 men on Saturday to end Hungerford’s perfect start in National League South.
It was a glimpse of the potential that Kutrieb’s side possess, but the Fleet boss stated it will count for nothing if they don’t eliminate their defensive frailties sooner rather than later.
“There’s a little bit of concentration and more focus needed,” said Kutrieb. “It’s too easy how we concede goals. You don’t need to have such a hard game if you don’t concede goals and then score at the other end like we did against Braintree. That’s the way we want it to be.
“But at the moment we are too far away from keeping clean sheets. We will work on it because when you want to be top of the table you have to keep clean sheets. That’s the basic for us, it’s what we want to achieve going forward.
“We have to work hard on it because when you’re a little bit sloppy then you can concede easy goals in this league – like we did against Hungerford and St Albans.
“That’s the biggest thing that we need to change, we’ve conceded five goals in two games. That’s not what I want to see.
“We have to defend better as a team. I can’t say we defend badly but we make easy mistakes and we need to stop making wrong decisions.”
It was the second home league game of the season for Fleet – and the second time they had a player sent-off. Jake Goodman saw red in the 1-1 draw with Dulwich and defender Charlie Rowan was dismissed for an off-the-ball incident just before half-time in the 3-2 win over Hungerford.
Kutrieb dropped Josh Payne deeper in the second half to make a three-man defence and it worked a treat with Bobby-Joe Taylor taking full advantage of the freedom he was given down the left wing, which culminated in him popping up with the winner.
“Against Dulwich it was a bit similar but not really because Dulwich want to play football,” explained Kutrieb. “This team don’t want to play football, they want to play long balls and get in behind and get their number nine on the ball so he can score goals like he has in the first three games.
“That’s the reason why I put another centre-back in, so we could defend better. I was not really happy against Dulwich because we can play better than we did then with 10 men as we showed against Hungerford. It was good to score two goals going forward with 10 men.”
The Fleet boss praised the character of his players, who had to show their resolve in testing conditions against a combative Hungerford outfit.
“You have to fight and win your duels,” added Kutrieb. “We won our battles on the pitch but I’m pleased as it’s not usual that they show such great character. We want to see more when we play with 11 men.
“Before we conceded the second goal we played some really good stuff, we hit the post and the bar and had some good chances. You have to score then to go ahead rather than concede a second goal at that time.
“We were the much better team and you could see that. It was a massive game and I’m pleased because they showed character.”
On the red card, he added: “I didn’t really see it but I saw the video and I felt it was a harsh decision. I asked the linesman if he was 100 per cent sure but he could never see it exactly. It was a hard decision.”
There was one added bonus for Kutrieb, who was supported by his son, who has spent the week in England during the school holidays.
He said: “Normally he has to stay at home but he came over in the holidays. I’m pleased that he is here as it has been a hard time for us being apart and I’m happy that we’ve got the win.”
