Ebbsfleet captain Chris Solly is hoping last weekend’s win against Wealdstone can act as the springboard for survival.

The Fleet remain in the National League drop zone but anyone in the bottom half of the table could yet be dragged into the relegation dogfight.

It was a first clean sheet since August as Solly marked his return to the side with an excellent display at the heart of the Ebbsfleet defence.

“For me, being a defender, clean sheets are something we pride ourselves on,” said Solly.

“I’ve said it a million times, the quality we have in this squad going forward, we’ll always score goals. So, you go into the game knowing if we keep a clean sheet the likelihood is we’re going to win most weeks.

“I don’t think there’s been many games since I’ve been here where we haven’t scored. We didn’t create a million chances against Wealdstone but we’ve managed to score two goals.

“Keep a clean sheet and you’ve always got a good chance of winning the game, worst case you come away with a 0-0 but every point we come away with at the minute is a good point.

“The style of football we play, we’re a forward-thinking, attacking team, so we will always be slightly open in games at times.

“Defensively we haven’t been good enough as a team this season and we’ve conceded far too many goals, but it was a step in the right direction and hopefully we can continue from there.”

It was a welcome return to action for the influential Solly, who was last seen during the home defeat to Oxford City in November.

Injury kept him sidelined since then but he was back at the weekend to register his 100th appearance for Ebbsfleet.

“It was literally the last five or 10 minutes of the Oxford game when I went in for a tackle and opened my ankle up,” said Solly.

“I wasn’t overly concerned as I was able to put weight on it four or five days later but it was just one of those horrible ones where I felt it even two or three weeks later when I was running and I couldn’t even kick a ball.

“It took seven to 10 days longer than I’d have hoped but I feel good now. I trained for a week before Wealdstone and having 90 minutes in my legs then will only help.

“There’s nothing more frustrating than watching the team, especially when things are going the wrong way. I think any player will tell you that.

“I’ve seen a lot of good things in our performances, even though we haven’t got the right results. We just need to now do that consistently over longer periods in the game and I’m sure we’ll be fine.

“Don’t get me wrong, there were still things we can improve on defensively that we did against Wealdstone, as a team and as a back four.

“But when Mark Cousins was called upon he pulled off two or three brilliant saves and that’s what we’ve come to expect from him, really. We see him day in, day out, and we know the qualities that he has.

“It’s something we need to keep working on, defensively as a unit and ultimately as a team, how are we going to prevent the opposition from creating chances.”